Logistic Transport System for Nutritional Substances

ABSTRACT

A preservation system for storage and logistic transport of nutritional substances. The preservation system obtains information about the nutritional substance to be preserved, senses and measures the external environment to the preservation system, senses and measures the internal environment to the preservation system, senses and measures the state of the nutritional substance, and stores such information throughout the period of preservation. Using this accumulated information, the preservation system can measure, or estimate, changes in nutritional content (usually degradation) during the period of preservation. Additionally, the preservation system can use this information to dynamically modify the preservation system to minimize detrimental changes to the nutritional content of the nutritional substance, and in some cases actually improve the nutritional substance attributes.

RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 14/059,441, filed Oct. 21, 2013, which is acontinuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/051,379,filed Oct. 10, 2013, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/485,854, filed May 31, 2012, which claimsbenefit under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationSer. No. 61/624,948 filed Apr. 16, 2012; U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 61/624,972, filed Apr. 16, 2012; and U.S.Provisional Patent Application, 61/624,985, filed Apr. 16, 2012, thecontents of which are incorporated herein by reference in theirentirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present inventions relate to collection, transmission, creation anduse of information regarding preservation of nutritional substancesduring logistic transport.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Nutritional substances are traditionally grown (plants), raised(animals) or synthesized (synthetic compounds). Additionally,nutritional substances can be found in a wild, non-cultivated form,which can be caught or collected. While the collectors and creators ofnutritional substances generally obtain and/or generate informationabout the source, history, caloric content and/or nutritional content oftheir products, they generally do not pass such information along to theusers of their products. Further, there is no information available tothe consumer regarding changes in nutritional, organoleptic, oraesthetic values of nutritional substances or regarding residualnutritional, organoleptic, or aesthetic values of the nutritionalsubstance after they have been conditioned, and no way for the consumerto know what conditioning protocol will achieve the nutritional,organoleptic, or aesthetic values he desires. It would be desirable forsuch information be available to the consumers of nutritional substancesat any desired moment, as well as all participants in the food andbeverage industry—the nutritional substance supply system. Aninteractive system and data base, including user-friendly dynamicnutritional substance labeling allowing consumers, and any other memberof the nutritional substance supply system, to access informationregarding changes in nutritional, organoleptic, or aesthetic values of anutritional substance as well as creation and origin information for thenutritional substance, at any moment during the life-cycle of thenutritional substance up to the moment of consumption, would offer greatvalue to the nutritional substance supply system.

The nutritional content, also referred to herein as nutritional value,of foods and beverages, as used herein, refers to the non-caloriccontent of these nutritional substances which are beneficial to theorganisms which consume these nutritional substances. For example, thenutritional content of a nutritional substance could include vitamins,minerals, proteins, and other non-caloric components which arenecessary, or at least beneficial, to the organism consuming thenutritional substances. Caloric content refers to the energy innutritional substances, commonly measured in calories. The caloriccontent could be represented as sugars and/or carbohydrates in thenutritional substances.

Consumers are starting to demand that the food and beverage industryoffer products which include higher nutritional content, and/or at leastinformation regarding the actual current nutritional content of suchproducts, also referred to herein as the residual nutritional content.In fact, consumers are already willing to pay higher prices for highernutritional content. This can be seen at high-end grocery stores whichoffer organic, minimally processed, fresh, non-adulterated nutritionalsubstances. Further, as societies and governments seek to improve theirconstituents' health and lower healthcare costs, incentives and/ormandates will be given to the food and beverage industry to track,maintain, and/or increase the nutritional content of nutritionalsubstances they handle. There will be a need for an industry-widesolution to allow the management of nutritional content across theentire cycle from creation to consumption. In order to manage thenutritional content of nutritional substances across the entire cyclefrom creation to consumption, the nutritional substance industry willneed tools to identify, track, measure, estimate, preserve, transform,condition, record and communicate nutritional content information fornutritional substances. Providing nutritional substances with userfriendly dynamic nutritional substance labeling facilitating this typeof information connectivity and access will be a key in a system capableof such functionality. Of particular importance is the measurement,estimation, and tracking of changes in nutritional value, as well aschanges in organoleptic and aesthetic values of a nutritional substancefrom creation to consumption. The changes in nutritional, organoleptic,and aesthetic values are individually and collectively referred toherein as ΔN. This ΔN information could be used, not only by theconsumer in selecting particular nutritional substances to consume, butcould be used by the other food and beverage industry participants andmodules, including creation, preservation, transformation, andconditioning, to make decisions on how to create, handle and processnutritional substances. Additionally, those who sell nutritionalsubstances to consumers, such as restaurants and grocery stores, couldcommunicate perceived qualitative values of the nutritional substance intheir efforts to market and position their nutritional substanceproducts. Further, a determinant of price of the nutritional substancecould be particular nutritional, organoleptic, or aesthetic values, andif changes to those values, also referred to herein as ΔN, are perceivedas desirable. For example, if a desirable value has been maintained,improved, or minimally degraded, it could be marketed as a premiumproduct. Still further, a system allowing creators, preservers andlogistic transporters, transformers, conditioners, and consumers ofnutritional substances to update labeling content to reflect the mostcurrent information about the nutritional substance would provideconsumers with the information they need to make informed decisionsregarding the nutritional substances they purchase and consume. Suchinformation updates may include nutritional, organoleptic, or aestheticvalues of the nutritional substance, may further include informationregarding the source, creation and other origin information for thenutritional substance, and may further include information regardingadulteration of the nutritional substance.

For example, the grower of sweet corn generally only provides basicinformation as the variety and grade of its corn to the packager.Information regarding actual baseline nutritional, organoleptic, oraesthetic values of the corn is not likely to be provided, and noinformation is provided regarding ΔN values resulting from logistictransport (i.e. changes in nutritional, organoleptic, or aestheticvalues resulting from preservation during bulk shipping to thepackager). The packager, who preserves the corn and ships it to atransformer for use in a ready-to-eat dinner, may only tell thetransformer that the corn has been frozen as loose kernels of sweetcorn. No information is provided regarding baseline nutritional,organoleptic, or aesthetic values, ΔN values occurring prior to receiptby the packager, resulting from preservation and packaging by thepackager, or resulting from logistic transport to the transformer. Thetransformer uses the corn as an ingredient in creating a ready-to-eatfrozen dinner, and ships it to a supermarket. However, no information isprovided to the supermarket regarding baseline nutritional,organoleptic, or aesthetic of the corn, ΔN values occurring prior toreceipt by the transformer, resulting from transformation, or resultingfrom logistic transport to the supermarket (i.e. distribution via truckto the supermarket). The supermarket places the ready-to-eat dinner in afreezer located in the freezer isle of the supermarket, where it isselected by a consumer for purchase. However, no information on baselinenutritional, organoleptic, or aesthetic values, ΔN of such values, orcorresponding residual nutritional, organoleptic, or aesthetic values ofthe ready-to-eat dinner is passed along to the consumer. The consumerknows essentially nothing about baseline nutritional, organoleptic, oraesthetic values of the corn, nor does the consumer know what changesoccurred (generally a degradation, but could be a maintenance or even animprovement) to the nutritional, organoleptic, or aesthetic values, ΔN,of the sweet corn from creation, logistic transport to the packager,preservation and packaging by the packager, logistic transport to thetransformer, transformation, logistic transport to the supermarket, andpreservation in the supermarket's freezer isle. Further, the packagingof the ready-to-eat dinner may only provide the consumer withrudimentary instructions regarding how to cook or reheat theready-to-eat dinner in a microwave oven, toaster oven or conventionaloven, and only identify that the dinner contains whole kernel corn amongthe various items in the dinner, preparation by consumer, and finallyconsumption by the consumer. The consumer of the dinner will likely notexpress opinions on the quality of the dinner, unless it was anespecially bad experience, where the consumer might contact theproducer's customer support program to complain. Unfortunately, todayconsumers have no way to access information regarding the extent towhich nutritional substances have changed, the ΔN (typically adegradation), at any moment during their life-cycle. Accordingly, theycannot determine the actual residual nutritional, organoleptic, oraesthetic values of the nutritional substance. Further, they have noaccess to information regarding how a nutritional substance'snutritional, organoleptic, or aesthetic values will further change(usually a degradation) during local storage and conditioning, and noway to access information regarding how to condition a nutritionalsubstance in order to achieve desired residual nutritional,organoleptic, or aesthetic values. An interactive system and data baseincluding user friendly dynamic nutritional substance labeling allowingconsumers to access such information for nutritional substances wouldoffer great value to the nutritional substance supply system.

Consumers' needs are changing as consumers are demanding healthierfoods, such as “organic foods.” Customers are also asking for moreinformation about the nutritional substances they consume, such asspecific characteristics' relating not only to nutritional content, butto allergens or digestive intolerances. For example, nutritionalsubstances which contain lactose, gluten, nuts, dyes, etc. need to beavoided by certain consumers. However, the producer of the ready-to-eatdinner, in the prior example, has very little information to share otherthan possibly the source of the elements of the ready-to-eat dinner andits processing steps in preparing the dinner. Generally, the producer ofthe ready-to-eat dinner does not know the nutritional content andorganoleptic state and aesthetic condition of the product after it hasbeen reheated or cooked by the consumer, cannot predict changes to theseproperties, ΔN, and cannot inform a consumer of this information toenable the consumer to better meet their needs. For example, theconsumer may want to know what proportion of desired organolepticproperties or values, desired nutritional content or values, or desiredaesthetic properties or values of the corn in the ready-to-eat dinnerremain after cooking or reheating, and the change in the desirednutritional content or values, the desired organoleptic properties orvalues, or the desired aesthetic properties or values, ΔN, (usually adegradation, but could be a maintenance or even improvement). There is aneed to preserve, measure, estimate, store and/or transmit informationregarding such nutritional, organoleptic, and aesthetic values,including changes to these values, ΔN, throughout the nutritionalsubstance supply system.

The caloric and nutritional content information for a prepared food thatis provided to the consumer is often minimal. For example, when sugar islisted in the ingredient list, the consumer may not receive anyinformation about the source of the sugar, which can come from a varietyof plants, such as sugarcane, beets, or corn, which will affect itsnutritional content. Conversely, some nutritional information that isprovided to consumers is so detailed, the consumer can do little withit. For example, this list of ingredients is from a nutritional label ona consumer product: Vitamins—A 355 IU 7%, E 0.8 mg 4%, K 0.5 mcg, 1%,Thiamin 0.6 mg 43%, Riboflavin 0.3 mg 20%, Niacin 6.0 mg 30%, B6 1.0 mg52%, Foliate 31.5 mcg 8%, Pantothenic 7%; Minerals Calcium 11.6 1%, Iron4.5 mg 25%, Phosphorus 349 mg 35%, Potassium 476 mg 14%, Sodium 58.1 mg2%, Zinc 3.7 mg 24%, Copper 0.5 mg 26%, Manganese 0.8 mg 40%, Selenium25.7 mcg 37%; Carbohydrate 123 g, Dietary fiber 12.1 g, Saturated fat7.9 g, Monosaturated Fat 2.1 g, Polysaturated Fat 3.6 g, Omega 3 fattyacids 108 g, Omega 6 fatty acids 3481, Ash 2.0 g and Water 17.2 g.(%=Daily Value). There is a need for dynamic labeling of nutritionalsubstances in order to provide information about nutritional substancesin a meaningful manner. Such information needs to be presented in amanner that meets the specific needs of a particular consumer. Forexample, consumers with a medical condition, such as diabetes, wouldwant to track specific information regarding nutritional valuesassociated with sugar and other nutrients in the foods and beveragesthey consume, and would benefit further from knowing changes in thesevalues or having tools to quickly indicate or estimate these changes ina retrospective, current, or prospective fashion.

In fact, each module in the food and beverage industry already createsand tracks some information, including caloric and nutritionalinformation, about their product internally. For example, the farmer whogrew the corn knows the variety of the seed, condition of the soil, thesource of the water, the fertilizers and pesticides used, the chosenmode of logistic transport to the packager, and can measure the caloricand nutritional content at creation. The packager of the corn knows whenit was picked, how the corn was preserved and packaged before being sentto the ready-to-eat dinner, what resulting change (typically adegradation) to caloric and nutritional content has occurred, the chosenmode of logistic transport to the transformer, and when it was deliveredto the ready-to-eat dinner transformer. The ready-to-eat dinnertransformer knows the source of the corn and other ingredients of theready-to-eat dinner, how it was processed during transformation,including the recipe followed, how it was preserved and packaged for theconsumer, and the chosen mode of logistic transport to the supermarket.Not only does such a ready-to-eat dinner producer know what changes(typically degradation) to caloric and nutritional content occurred, theready-to-eat dinner transformer can modify its processing andpost-processing preservation to optimize residual nutritional,organoleptic, and aesthetic values (for example to minimizedegradation). The supermarket knows when they received the ready-to-eatdinners, when they were put into their freezer in the freezer isle, thetemperature and other conditions inside the freezer, and when theconsumer purchased the ready-to-eat dinner. Finally, the consumer knowshow she locally stored and prepared the ready-to-eat dinner forconsumption, which can also change the nutritional, organoleptic, andaesthetic values (typically a degradation), what condiments were added,and whether she did or did not enjoy it.

If there was a mechanism to share this information, the quality of thenutritional substances, including caloric and nutritional, organoleptic,and aesthetic value, could be preserved and improved. Consumers could bebetter informed about nutritional substances they select and consume,including the state, and changes in the state, ΔN, of the nutritionalsubstance throughout its lifecycle from creation to consumption. Theefficiency and cost effectiveness of nutritional substances could alsobe improved. Feedback within the entire chain from creator to consumercould provide a closed-loop system that could improve quality (taste,appearance, and caloric and nutritional content), efficiency, value andprofit. For example, in the milk supply chain, at least 10% of the milkproduced is wasted due to safety margins included in product expirationdates. The use of more accurate tracking information, measured qualityinformation, including ΔN and corresponding residual nutritional,organoleptic, and aesthetic values, and historical environmentalinformation could substantially reduce such waste. An interactive systemand data base including dynamic nutritional substance labeling forcollecting, preserving, measuring and/or tracking information about anutritional substance in the nutritional substance supply system, wouldallow needed accountability. There would be nothing to hide.Unfortunately, today there is no such system or dynamic nutritionalsubstance labeling.

As consumers are demanding more information about what they consume,they are asking for products that have higher nutritional content andmore closely match good nutritional requirements, and would likenutritional products to actually meet their specific nutritionalsubstance requirements. While grocery stores, restaurants, and all thosewho process and sell food and beverages may obtain some information fromcurrent nutritional substance tracking systems, such as existingnon-dynamic nutritional substance labeling, these current systems canprovide only limited information.

Current packaging materials for nutritional substances include plastics,paper, cardboard, glass, and synthetic materials. Generally, thepackaging material is chosen by the producer to best preserve thequality of the nutritional substance until used by the customer. In somecases, the packaging may include some information regarding type ofnutritional substance, identity of the producer, and the country oforigin. Such packaging generally does not transmit source information ofthe nutritional substance, such as creation information and baselinenutritional, organoleptic, and aesthetic values, current or historicinformation as to the external conditions of the packaged nutritionalsubstance during storage or logistic transport, current or historicinformation as to the internal conditions of the packaged nutritionalsubstance during storage or logistic transport, or corresponding ΔNinformation and residual nutritional, organoleptic, or aesthetic values.

Nutritional substance collectors and/or producers, such as growers(plants), ranchers (animals) or synthesizer (synthetic compounds),routinely create and collect information about their products, however,that information is generally not accessible by their customers. Even ifsuch producers wished to provide such information to their customers,there is no current method of labeling, encoding or identifying eachparticular product to provide such information (even though all plants,animals and in general, nutritional substances have a naturalfingerprint). While there are limited methods and systems available,they are excessively costly, time consuming, and do not trace, orprovide access to, the nutritional, organoleptic, and/or aesthetic stateacross the product's lifecycle. Current labels for such products includepackage labels, sticker labels and food color ink labels. These labelsgenerally are applied to all similar products and cannot identify eachparticular product, only variety of products, such as apple banana, butnot a particular banana.

An important issue in the creation, preservation, transformation,conditioning, and consumption of nutritional substances are the changesin nutritional, organoleptic, or aesthetic values, ΔN, that occur innutritional substances due to a variety of internal and externalfactors. Because nutritional substances are composed of biological,organic, and/or chemical compounds, they are generally subject todegradation. This degradation generally reduces the nutritional,organoleptic, and/or aesthetic values of nutritional substances. Whilenot always true, nutritional substances are best consumed at their pointof creation. However, being able to consume nutritional substances atthe farm, at the slaughterhouse, at the fishery, or at the foodprocessing plant is at least inconvenient, if not impossible. Currently,the food and beverage industry attempts to minimize the loss ofnutritional value (often through the use of additives or preservatives),and/or attempts to hide this loss of nutritional value from consumers.

It is understood that nutritional substances may experience one, orseveral, preservation modalities on their journey from creation toconsumption. Such preservation modalities include all known forms ofstorage. Further, such preservation modalities include all known formsof logistic transport. Modes of logistic transport may include, but arein no way limited to: containers for maritime, rail, highway, andair-freight; enclosed tractor-trailers; box trucks; rail and highwaytankers; hoppers; pallets; boxes; bags; drums; and so forth. ΔNresulting during logistic transport of nutritional substances can besignificant. Accordingly, the ability to track ΔN (or correspondingresidual nutritional, organoleptic, or aesthetic values) resultingduring logistic transport and communicate it to others in thenutritional substance supply system would provide a great benefit to allparticipants in the nutritional substance supply system.

Overall, the examples herein of some prior or related systems and theirassociated limitations are intended to be illustrative and notexclusive. Other limitations of existing or prior systems will becomeapparent to those of skill in the art upon reading the followingDetailed Description.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

In an object of the present invention, a nutritional substance ispreserved such that its source information and historical preservationinformation, including information regarding storage, packaging,logistic transport, and any other external influences on the nutritionalsubstance which may have caused changes in nutritional, organoleptic,and/or aesthetic values of the nutritional substance, hereincollectively and individually referred to as ΔN, and informationregarding such ΔNs or a resulting residual nutritional, organoleptic,and/or aesthetic value, are available to users and/or consumers of thenutritional substance, as well as all entities of the nutritionalsubstance supply system, including those who create, transform, preserveand provide logistic transport, and condition nutritional substances.

In a further object of the present invention, preservation systems,including packaging, storage systems and containers, and logistictransport, can dynamically interact with a nutritional substance beingpreserved, in order to maintain and/or improve and/or minimizedegradation of the nutritional substance in order to maintain, improve,or minimize degradation of a nutritional, organoleptic, and/or aestheticvalue, or otherwise favorably influence a ΔN related to the nutritionalsubstance.

In an object of the present invention, a nutritional substance ispreserved such that its source information and/or historicalpreservation information, including information regarding storage,packaging, logistic transport, and any other external influences on thenutritional substance which may have caused changes in nutritional,organoleptic, and/or aesthetic values of the nutritional substance,herein collectively and individually referred to as ΔN, and informationregarding such ΔNs or a resulting residual nutritional, organoleptic,and/or aesthetic value, are available to entities outside of thenutritional substance supply system.

In an object of the present invention, the packaging or label of anutritional substance tracks creation and historical information ofnutritional substance, including ΔN information as well as currentinformation about the state of a nutritional, organoleptic, and/oraesthetic value of the nutritional substance.

In an object of the present invention, a unique attribute of anutritional substance tracks creation and historical information ofnutritional substance, including ΔN information as well as currentinformation about the state of a nutritional, organoleptic, and/oraesthetic value of the nutritional substance.

In a further object of the present invention, preservation systems,including storage, packaging and logistic transport, can dynamicallyinteract with a nutritional substance to maintain and/or improve and/orminimize degradation of the nutritional substance being preserved, inorder to maintain, improve, or minimize degradation of a nutritional,organoleptic, and/or aesthetic value, or otherwise favorably influence aΔN related to the nutritional substance, and transmit informationregarding such dynamic interaction with the nutritional substance.

In an object of the present invention, a nutritional substance ispreserved such that its source information and/or historicalpreservation information, including information regarding storage,packaging, logistic transport, and any other external influences on thenutritional substance which may have caused changes in nutritional,organoleptic, and/or aesthetic values of the nutritional substance,herein collectively and individually referred to as ΔN, and informationregarding such ΔNs or a resulting residual nutritional, organoleptic,and/or aesthetic value, are available by reference to a uniqueidentifier provided with the nutritional substance.

In an object of the present invention, ΔN information of a nutritionalsubstance is referenced to a unique identifier associated with thenutritional substance and the ΔN information is tracked and/or collectedand/or stored and/or minimized and/or transmitted.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In an embodiment of the present invention, a preservation system for anutritional substance, including, but not limited to, storage,packaging, and logistic transport systems, may allow the tracking ofsource information, information as to the history of the nutritionalsubstance from the point it was preserved and/or current information onexternal influences on the preserved nutritional substance which mayhave caused changes in nutritional, organoleptic, and/or aestheticvalues of the nutritional substance, herein collectively andindividually referred to as ΔN. In a further embodiment, the currentinformation on the external influences on the preserved nutritionalsubstance is utilized to provide ΔN values or resulting residualnutritional, organoleptic, and/or aesthetic values to users and/orconsumers of the nutritional substance as well as all entities of thenutritional substance supply system, including those who create,preserve (including logistic transport), transform, condition, andconsume nutritional substances.

In an embodiment of the present invention, packaging or labeling for anutritional substance can facilitate the provision of information to anyentity inside or outside of the nutritional substance supply system, butpreferably the consumer, related to a ΔN value or resulting residualnutritional, organoleptic, and/or aesthetic value of the nutritionalsubstance.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a unique attribute of anutritional substance can facilitate the provision of information to anyentity inside or outside of the nutritional substance supply system, butpreferably the consumer, related to a ΔN value or resulting residualnutritional, organoleptic, and/or aesthetic value of the nutritionalsubstance.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a preservation system for anutritional substance, including, but not limited to, storage, packagingand logistic transport systems, may dynamically interact with thenutritional substance to maintain, improve, or minimize degradation of anutritional, organoleptic, and/or aesthetic value, or otherwisefavorably influence a ΔN related to the nutritional substance.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a preservation system for anutritional substance, including, but not limited to, storage, packagingand logistic transport systems, may allow the tracking of sourceinformation, information as to the history of the nutritional substancefrom the point it was preserved and/or current information on externalinfluences on the preserved nutritional substance which may have causedchanges in nutritional, organoleptic, and/or aesthetic values of thenutritional substance, herein collectively and individually referred toas ΔN. In a further embodiment, the current information on the externalinfluences on the preserved nutritional substance is utilized to provideΔN values or resulting residual nutritional, organoleptic, and/oraesthetic values to entities outside of the nutritional substance supplysystem.

In an embodiment of the present invention, packaging or labeling for anutritional substance references information related to a ΔN value orresulting residual nutritional, organoleptic, and/or aesthetic value ofthe nutritional substance by a unique identifier provided by thepackaging or labeling for the nutritional substance. Alternatively,information related to a ΔN value or resulting residual nutritional,organoleptic, and/or aesthetic value of the nutritional substance may bereferenced by a unique property of the nutritional substance. Suchpackaging or labeling may be applicable to nutritional substances thatare preserved individually or in bulk.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a preservation system for anutritional substance, including, but not limited to, storage,packaging, and logistic transport systems, can dynamically interact withthe nutritional substance to maintain, improve, or minimize degradationof a nutritional, organoleptic, and/or aesthetic value, or otherwisefavorably influence a ΔN related to the nutritional substance, andtransmits information related to the interaction, the ΔN, or thecorresponding residual nutritional, organoleptic, or aesthetic value.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a preservation system for anutritional substance, including, but not limited to, storage,packaging, and logistic transport systems, can allow the tracking ofsource information, information as to the history of the nutritionalsubstance from the point it was preserved and/or current information onexternal influences on the preserved nutritional substance which mayhave caused changes in nutritional, organoleptic, and/or aestheticvalues of the nutritional substance, herein collectively andindividually referred to as ΔN. In a further embodiment of the presentinvention, the current information on the external influences on thepreserved nutritional substance is referenced to a unique identifierprovided with the preservation system, or a property unique to thenutritional substance. Such a unique identifier may be applicable tonutritional substances that are preserved individually or in bulk.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a system is provided for thecreation, collection, storage, transmission, and/or processing ofinformation regarding a dynamically labeled nutritional substance so asto improve, maintain, or minimize degradation of nutritional,organoleptic, and/or aesthetic value of the nutritional substance.Additionally, such information may be provided for use by creators,preservers (including logistic transporters), transformers,conditioners, and consumers of the nutritional substance. In a preferredembodiment, this information is openly available and openly integratedat any point in time to all constituents in the nutritional substancesupply system. It is preferred that dynamic labeling provided with thenutritional substance enables the integration and availability of theinformation and that this information becomes openly available andopenly integrated as soon as it is created. The nutritional informationcreation, preservation, and transmission system of the present inventionmay allow the nutritional substance supply system to improve its abilityto minimize degradation of nutritional, organoleptic and/or aestheticvalue of the nutritional substance, and/or inform the consumer, creator,preserver (including logistic transporter), transformer, conditioner, orconsumer about such degradation, or ΔN. While the ultimate goal of thenutritional substance supply system can be to minimize degradation ofnutritional, organoleptic and/or aesthetic values, or as it relates toΔN, minimize the negative magnitude of ΔN, an interim goal may beproviding consumers with significant information regarding any change,particularly degradation, of nutritional, organoleptic and/or aestheticvalues of nutritional substances, and/or component nutritionalsubstances thereof, consumers select and consumer, the ΔN, such thatdesired information regarding specific residual nutritional,organoleptic, and/or aesthetic values can be ascertained using the ΔN.Entities within the nutritional substance supply system that providesuch ΔN information regarding nutritional substances, particularlyregarding degradation, will be able to differentiate their products fromthose who obscure and/or hide such information. Additionally, suchentities should be able to charge a premium for products which eithermaintain their nutritional, organoleptic, and/or aesthetic value, orsupply more complete information about changes in their nutritional,organoleptic, and/or aesthetic value, the ΔN.

In another aspect, embodiments of the present invention further providea logistic transport system for preservation of nutritional substancescomprised of a mobile container for preserving a nutritional substanceassociated with a unique identifier. The mobile container includes a gassensor and an optical sensor for dynamically sensing attributeinformation of the nutritional substance indicating a change in value ofa specific nutritional or organoleptic property; and a temperature andhumidity sensor for dynamically sensing environmental information of thecontainer indicating a change in value of the specific nutritional ororganoleptic property. A device is provided to dynamically providelocation, date, and time information, and information storage isprovided for storing the dynamically sensed attribute information, theenvironmental information, the location, date and time information, andthe unique identifier.

In some embodiments, a method is provided for determining andcommunicating an evolution of a particular nutritional or organolepticproperty of a nutritional substance, comprising scanning a nutritionalsubstance provided with a unique identifier at a first time to obtain afirst scan-response related to a target attribute associated with aparticular nutritional or organoleptic property. The first scan-responseis analyzed and correlated with a first value of the particularnutritional or organoleptic property and to the unique identifier. Thenutritional substance is scanned at a subsequent time to obtain asubsequent scan-response related to the target attribute. The subsequentscan-response is analyzed and correlated with a subsequent value of theparticular nutritional or organoleptic property and to the uniqueidentifier. A change is determined in the particular nutritional ororganoleptic property_between the first time and the subsequent time,and information related to the change in the particular nutritional ororganoleptic property referenced to the unique identifier iscommunicated.

Other advantages and features will become apparent from the followingdescription and claims. It should be understood that the description andspecific examples are intended for purposes of illustration only and notintended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, exemplify the embodiments of the presentinvention and, together with the description, serve to explain andillustrate principles of the invention. The drawings are intended toillustrate major features of the exemplary embodiments in a diagrammaticmanner. The drawings are not intended to depict every feature of actualembodiments nor relative dimensions of the depicted elements, and arenot drawn to scale.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic functional block diagram of a nutritionalsubstance supply relating to the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows a graph representing a value of a nutritional substancewhich changes according to a change of condition for the nutritionalsubstance;

FIG. 3 shows a schematic functional block diagram of the preservationmodule 300 according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 shows a schematic functional block diagram of the preservationmodule 300 according to an alternate embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 5 shows a schematic functional block diagram of the preservationmodule 300 according to an alternate embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 6 shows a schematic functional block diagram of the preservationmodule 300 according to an alternate embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 7 shows a schematic functional block diagram of the preservationmodule 300 according to an alternate embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 8 shows a schematic functional block diagram of the preservationmodule 300 according to an alternate embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 9 shows a schematic functional block diagram of the preservationmodule 300 according to an alternate embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 10 shows a schematic functional block diagram of the preservationmodule 300 according to an alternate embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 11 shows a schematic functional block diagram of the preservationmodule 300 according to an alternate embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 12 shows a schematic functional block diagram of the preservationmodule 300 according to an alternate embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 13 shows a schematic functional block diagram of the preservationmodule 300 according to an alternate embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 14 shows a logistic transport system according to embodiments ofthe present invention; and

FIGS. 15 a and 15 b show formats of a dynamic indicator by which a ΔN,and related residual and initial nutritional, organoleptic, andaesthetic values, may be expressed.

In the drawings, the same reference numbers and any acronyms identifyelements or acts with the same or similar structure or functionality forease of understanding and convenience. To easily identify the discussionof any particular element or act, the most significant digit or digitsin a reference number refer to the Figure number in which that elementis first introduced.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Various examples of the invention will now be described. The followingdescription provides specific details for a thorough understanding andenabling description of these examples. One skilled in the relevant artwill understand, however, that the invention may be practiced withoutmany of these details. Likewise, one skilled in the relevant art willalso understand that the invention can include many other obviousfeatures not described in detail herein. Additionally, some well-knownstructures or functions may not be shown or described in detail below,so as to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the relevant description.

The terminology used below is to be interpreted in its broadestreasonable manner, even though it is being used in conjunction with adetailed description of certain specific examples of the invention.Indeed, certain terms may even be emphasized below; however, anyterminology intended to be interpreted in any restricted manner will beovertly and specifically defined as such in this Detailed Descriptionsection.

The following discussion provides a brief, general description of arepresentative environment in which the invention can be implemented.The present invention enables a nutritional substance to interact andcommunicate with its preservation system in a dynamic manner through thenatural changes ΔN it experiences, and further enables the preservationsystem to convey information associated with those changes to theconsumer. As used herein, preservation modules, also referred to aspreservation systems, may include, but are not limited to, any internalor external portion of a nutritional substance package, container,carton, bottle, bulk storage system, logistic transport system, box,bag, vessel, cup, plate, wrapper, label, or any other apparatus used topreserve, store, transfer, present, or serve a nutritional substance.

An example of the present invention is provided of bottled wineinteracting, or communicating, with a portion of its container. As thewine in the container ages it naturally experiences many changes ΔN,including changes in acidity, tannin content, gas emission, sugarcontent, alcohol content, and others, which occur at various ratesdepending on factors intrinsic to the wine, for example the variety ofgrape, and further depending on factors extrinsic to the wine, such ascontainer materials, storage temperature, exposure to light, exposure tooxygen, and any other environmental conditions that may occur in anembodiment, at least a portion of the container contacting the wine,such as a cork, a cap, a submerged coupon or indicator, or any part ofthe surface of the bottle contacting the wine can monitor one or more ΔNand convey to a consumer at least one of the ΔN, a corresponding rate ofchange of the ΔN, or a corresponding current state (correspondingcurrent nutritional, organoleptic, or aesthetic value), of the wine atany moment the consumer wants to know, such as when he is deciding topurchase or open the container.

A container may be provided with the ability to variably adapt itsinternal environment in response to the monitored ΔN information, so asto alter the corresponding rate of change of the monitored ΔN. In oneembodiment, a means for variably adapting conditions in the container toalter the rate of change of a monitored ΔN includes at least one of achemical, photochemical, mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, dissolution,absorption, swelling, shrinkage, component addition, componentsubtraction, component binding, component conversion, electrolytic,ionic, osmotic, reverse osmotic, or thermal means to variably controlthe gaseous environment in the container in response to monitoring ofthe gaseous environment in the container.

In another example, a milk carton containing milk could have a smallarea on its side with encapsulated gel in direct contact with the milk.As the milk ages, its bacteria count naturally increases, also resultingin a reduced ph. The bacteria will be able to penetrate the gel and thegel will gradually change color in response to the increasing bacteriacontent or concentration, indicating the increase in bacteria within themilk, and therefore a current state of the milk. For example, the gelmay change from green, wherein green represents an acceptable bacterialevel and associated shelf life, to yellow, wherein yellow represents ahigher acceptable bacteria level and associated shorter shelf life, tored, wherein red represents the milk has an unacceptably high bacterialevel and is not apt for drinking any more.

Alternatively, the gel may gradually change color in response to areduction in pH, wherein changes in pH are surrogates for changes inbacteria levels. As the milk ages, its bacteria count naturallyincreases, reducing its pH. For example, the gel may change from green,wherein green represents a pH level corresponding to an acceptablebacteria level and associated shelf life, to yellow, wherein yellowrepresents a lower pH level and corresponding higher acceptable bacterialevel and associated shorter shelf life, to red, wherein red representsa still lower pH and corresponding unacceptably high bacteria level andis not apt for drinking any more.

It is understood that nutritional substances, as used herein, include,but are not limited to, synthetic compounds such as medicaments,supplements, and other substances intended for consumption orintroduction into a consumer. The present invention may includeembodiments wherein a portion of the nutritional substance interactingor communicating with its container is segregated from a portion of thenutritional substance to be consumed. This would be of particularbenefit for packaged goods including synthetic compounds such asmedicaments, in which case it would be desirable to segregate theportion of medicament interacting or communicating with the containerfrom the portion of the medicament for consumption. In this case, theportion of the medicament interacting or communicating with thecontainer would serve as a parallel sample of the medicament providedfor consumption. This might be accomplished by providing a separate,permanently sealed cavity on or within the medicament container, itscover, its label, or any permanently sealed cavity structure known inthe art, wherein the structure contains the portion of medicamentintended to interact or communicate with the container. The permanentlysealed cavity can interact with the portion of medicament communicatingwith it to convey desired ΔN information regarding the medicament. SuchΔN information may be associated with a degradation of the medicament, aresidual value of the medicament, an expiration date of the medicament,or utilized in any other way to ensure the medicament's safety andefficacy when a consumer uses it.

Other examples of the present invention could include, but are notlimited to, containers like jars, glasses, or cups that could detectwhen there is an unhealthy level of toxins, antibiotics, fungus,bacteria, pesticides, or other undesirable components in tap waterintended for consumption, or if the coffee poured into a cup hascaffeine or not. The principle at work is that of symbiosis, similar tothat which occurs between a banana and its peel. The banana peel has anatural evolution from green to black that conveys the level of maturityof the banana. The peel reacts to the natural ΔN that occurs during thebanana's maturation process, wherein the ΔNs may include changes inacidity, sugar content, and bacteria level. The ΔNs of the bananaindependently and collectively have an effect on the aesthetic values ofthe banana peel, which in turn conveys to the consumer when and how thebanana may best be consumed. For example, a green peel indicates thatthe banana is not yet ripe and should not be eaten. Yellow indicatesthat it may be suitable for consumption, but will not be very sweet.Yellow with a few black spots indicates that it is suitable forconsumption, and will be sweat. Mostly black indicates that it issuitable for use in baked goods or to be fried. Very black indicatesthat it is no longer suitable for consumption. In this same manner whenthe peel has been punctured or torn and the maturating process isaccelerated as more oxygen than normal contacts the banana, the bananapeel quickly turns black alerting the consumer. Therefore the consumerdoes not have to rely on a static expiration date to determine thebanana's suitability for consumption.

Although not required, aspects of the invention may be described belowin the general context of computer-executable instructions, such asroutines executed by a general-purpose data processing device (e.g., aserver computer or a personal computer). Those skilled in the relevantart will appreciate that the invention can be practiced with othercommunications, data processing, or computer system configurations,including: wireless devices, Internet appliances, hand-held devices(including personal digital assistants (PDAs)), wearable computers, allmanner of cellular or mobile phones, multi-processor systems,microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, set-topboxes, network PCs, mini-computers, mainframe computers, and the like.Indeed, the terms “controller,” “computer,” “server,” and the like areused interchangeably herein, and may refer to any of the above devicesand systems.

While aspects of the invention, such as certain functions, are describedas being performed exclusively on a single device, the invention canalso be practiced in distributed environments where functions or modulesare shared among disparate processing devices. The disparate processingdevices are linked through a communications network, such as a LocalArea Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), or the Internet. In adistributed computing environment, program modules may be located inboth local and remote memory storage devices.

Aspects of the invention may be stored or distributed on tangiblecomputer-readable media, including magnetically or optically readablecomputer discs, hard-wired or preprogrammed chips (e.g., EEPROMsemiconductor chips), nanotechnology memory, biological memory, or otherdata storage media. Alternatively, computer implemented instructions,data structures, screen displays, and other data related to theinvention may be distributed over the Internet or over other networks(including wireless networks), on a propagated signal on a propagationmedium (e.g., an electromagnetic wave(s), a sound wave, etc.) over aperiod of time. In some implementations, the data may be provided on anyanalog or digital network (packet switched, circuit switched, or otherscheme).

In some instances, the interconnection between modules is the internet,allowing the modules (with, for example, WiFi capability) to access webcontent offered through various web servers. The network may be any typeof cellular, IP-based or converged telecommunications network, includingbut not limited to Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), TimeDivision Multiple Access (TDMA), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA),Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDM), General PacketRadio Service (GPRS), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), AdvancedMobile Phone System (AMPS), Worldwide Interoperability for MicrowaveAccess (WiMAX), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS),Evolution-Data Optimized (EVDO), Long Term Evolution (LTE), Ultra MobileBroadband (UMB), Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Unlicensed MobileAccess (UMA), etc.

The modules in the systems can be understood to be integrated in someinstances and in particular embodiments, only particular modules may beinterconnected.

FIG. 1 shows the components of a nutritional substance industry 10. Itshould be understood that this could be the food and beverage ecosystemfor human consumption, but could also be the feed industry for animalconsumption, such as the pet food industry. A goal of the presentinvention for nutritional substance industry 10 is to create, preserve,transform and trace change in nutritional, organoleptic and/or aestheticvalues of nutritional substances, collectively and individually alsoreferred to herein as ΔN, through their creation, preservation(including logistic transport), transformation, conditioning andconsumption. While the nutritional substance industry 10 can be composedof many companies or businesses, it can also be integrated intocombinations of business serving many roles, or can be one business oreven individual. Since ΔN is a measure of the change in a value of anutritional substance, knowledge of a prior value (or state) of anutritional substance and the ΔN value will provide knowledge of thechanged value (or state) of a nutritional substance, and can furtherprovide the ability to estimate a change in value (or state).

Module 200 is the creation module. This can be a system, organization,or individual which creates and/or originates nutritional substances.Examples of this module include a farm which grows sweet corn; a ranchwhich raises beef; an aquaculture farm for growing shrimp; a factorythat synthesizes nutritional compounds; a collector of wild truffles; ora deep sea crab trawler.

Preservation module 300 is a preservation system (including storage andlogistic transport systems) for preserving and protecting thenutritional substances that are created by one module and transferred toanother module or entity. Once the nutritional substance has beencreated, generally, it will need to be packaged in some manner for itstransition to other modules in the nutritional substances industry 10.Transition to other modules is commonly accomplished by some form oflogistic transport. While preservation module 300 is shown in aparticular position in the nutritional substance industry 10, followingthe creation module 200, it should be understood that the preservationmodule 300 actually can be placed anywhere nutritional substances needto be preserved during their transition from creation to consumption.For example, the creator of the sweet corn may choose enclosed, bulknon-refrigerated rail cars as a logistic transport modality for shippinghis corn to a preserver. The preserver of the sweet corn may choose apackage format comprising 50 lb boxes containing 10ea individuallysealed 5 lb plastic bags of frozen corn kernels shipped in refrigeratedtractor trailers as a logistic transport modality for shipping his cornto a transformer.

Transformation module 400 is a nutritional substance processing system,such as a manufacturer who processes raw materials such as grains intobreakfast cereals. In the example of the sweet corn kernels, thetransformation module 400 could be a ready-to-eat frozen dinnermanufacturer who receives the components, or ingredients, also referredto herein as component nutritional substances, for a ready-to-eat frozendinner from preservation module 300 and prepares them into a frozendinner. In this example, the transformer 400 receives the frozen sweetcorn kernels from the preservation module 300 as 50 lb boxes containing10 individually sealed 5 lb plastic bags of frozen corn kernels shippedin refrigerated tractor trailers. While transformation module 400 isdepicted as one module, it will be understood that nutritionalsubstances may be transformed by a number of transformation modules 400on their path to consumption. In the example of the ready-to-eat dinner,the sweet corn is incorporated as an ingredient in ready-to-eat frozendinners, and shipped to various supermarkets by the transformer's chosenlogistic transport modality, which may be cartons containing 24ready-to-eat frozen dinners each, delivered by the transformers chosenlogistic transport modality, such as a refrigerated box truck. When therefrigerated box truck reaches a supermarket that has ordered theready-to-eat frozen dinners, the product may be directly placed into thefreezers of the frozen food isle, where it can be selected by aconsumer.

Conditioning module 500 is a consumer preparation system for preparingthe nutritional substance immediately before consumption by theconsumer. Conditioning module 500 can be a microwave oven, a blender, atoaster, a convection oven, a cook, etc. It can also be systems used bycommercial establishments to prepare nutritional substance for consumerssuch as a restaurant, an espresso maker, pizza oven, and other deviceslocated at businesses which provide nutritional substances to consumers.Such nutritional substances could be for consumption at the business orfor the consumer to take out from the business. Conditioning module 500can also be a combination of any of these devices used to preparenutritional substances for consumption by consumers. In the example ofthe ready-to-eat frozen dinner, the conditioning module typically may bethe consumer's microwave oven or his convection oven.

Consumer module 600 collects information from the living entity whichconsumes the nutritional substance which has passed through the variousmodules from creation to consumption. The consumer can be a human being,but could also be an animal, such as pets, zoo animals and livestock,which are they themselves nutritional substances for other consumptionchains. Consumers could also be plant life which consumes nutritionalsubstances to grow. In the example of the ready-to-eat frozen dinner,the consumer is the individual who purchases, conditions, and consumesthe ready-to-eat frozen dinner.

Information module 100 receives and transmits information regardingdynamically labeled nutritional substances between each of the modulesin the nutritional substance industry 10 including, the creation module200, the preservation module 300 (which includes logistic transportmodalities), the transformation module 400, the conditioning module 500,and the consumer module 600. The nutritional substance informationmodule 100 can be an interconnecting information transmission systemwhich allows the transmission of information between various modules. Itis preferred that the information module 100 collects, tracks, andorganizes information regarding the dynamically-labeled nutritionalsubstances from each stage of the production of the nutritionalsubstances from creation to consumption and that the informationregarding the dynamically-labeled nutritional substances is openlyavailable and openly integrated at any point in time to all modules ofthe nutritional substance supply system, preferably as soon as it iscreated. The integration and availability of the information is enabledby dynamic labeling provided with the nutritional substances, whichincludes a unique nutritional substance identifier, also referred toherein as a dynamic information identifier. Information module 100contains a database, also referred to herein as a dynamic nutritionalvalue database, where the information regarding the dynamically labelednutritional substance resides and can be referenced or located by thecorresponding dynamic information identifier. The dynamic nutritionalvalue database may comprise: one database openly accessible to allmodules of the nutritional substance supply system, or one databasewherein specific types of data are selectively accessible to particularmodules of the nutritional substance supply system. For example,information regarding particular logistic transport information may onlybe available to the preservation module, or alternatively, may beavailable to the preservation module and at least one of the creation,transformation, conditioning, or consumer modules. Alternatively, thedynamic nutritional value database may comprise: multiple individualdatabases openly accessible to all modules of the nutritional substancesupply system, or multiple individual databases wherein specificindividual databases are selectively accessible to one or moreparticular modules of the nutritional substance supply system. Forexample, information regarding logistic transport may reside in apreservation database and may only be available to the preservationmodule, or alternatively, may be available to the preservation moduleand at least one of the creation, transformation, conditioning, orconsumer modules. Information module 100 can be connected to the othermodules by a variety of communication systems, such as paper, computernetworks, and Internet and telecommunication systems, such as wirelesstelecommunication systems.

FIG. 2 is a graph showing the function of how a nutritional,organoleptic, or aesthetic value of a nutritional substance varies overthe change in a condition of the nutritional substance. Plotted on thevertical axis of this graph can be a nutritional value, organolepticvalue, or an aesthetic value of a nutritional substance (indicated as“Nutritional/Organoleptic/Aesthetic Value”). Plotted on the horizontalaxis can be the change in a condition that the nutritional substance isexposed to, such as time, temperature, location, and/or exposure toenvironmental conditions (indicated as “Change in Condition such asTime/Temperature/Exposure). This exposure to environmental conditionscan include, but is not limited to: exposure to air, including the airpressure and partial pressures of oxygen, carbon dioxide, water, orozone; airborne chemicals, pollutants, allergens, dust, smoke,carcinogens, radioactive isotopes, or combustion byproducts; exposure tomoisture; exposure to energy such as mechanical impact, mechanicalvibration, irradiation, heat, or sunlight; elapsed time; or exposure tomaterials such as packaging. Also shown in FIG. 2 is ΔN for nutritionalsubstance A and B (indicated as “ΔN: Change in nutritional,organoleptic, or aesthetic value”) and the corresponding residualnutritional, organoleptic, or aesthetic value for nutritional substanceA and B (indicated as “Residual nutritional, organoleptic, or aestheticvalue”). The function plotted as nutritional substance A could show a ΔNfor milk, such as the degradation of a nutritional value of milk duringlogistic transport by modality L₁. Any point on this curve can becompared to another point to measure and/or describe the change innutritional value, or the ΔN of nutritional substance A, during logistictransport by modality L₁. The plot of the degradation in the samenutritional value of nutritional substance B, also milk, describes thechange in nutritional value, or the ΔN of nutritional substance B,during logistic transport by modality L₂. As the graph shows,nutritional substance B starts out with a higher nutritional value thannutritional substance A, but degrades during logistic transport bymodality L₂ more quickly than nutritional substance A during logistictransport by modality L₁.

In this example, where nutritional substance A and nutritional substanceB are milk, this ΔN information regarding the nutritional substancedegradation profile of each milk during logistic transport can beaccessed and used by a transformer, such as a commercialhomogenizer/bottler of milk, in the selection of the milk they wish topurchase for transformation, because nutritional substance A andnutritional substance B are provided with dynamic labeling, whichincludes a dynamic information identifier for each nutritionalsubstance. Using the dynamic information identifier obtained from thedynamic labeling provided with each nutritional substance, thetransformer could retrieve desired ΔN information, such as thenutritional substance degradation profile during logistic transportreferenced to each of the milks, from a dynamic nutritional valuedatabase in information module 100. If the transformer has thisinformation at time zero when selecting a milk product for purchase, thetransformer could consider when the transformation of the milk willoccur and whether that is on one occasion or multiple occasions. Forexample, if the transformer planned to transform all of the milk priorto the point when the curve represented by nutritional substance Bcrosses the curve represented by nutritional substance A, then thetransformer would be likely to choose the milk represented bynutritional substance B because it has a higher nutritional value untilit crosses the curve represented by nutritional substance A. However, ifthe transformer expects to transform at least some of the milk at apoint in time after the time when the curve represented by nutritionalsubstance B crosses the curve represented by nutritional substance A,then the transformer might choose to select the milk represented by thenutritional substance A, even though milk represented by nutritionalsubstance A has a lower nutritional value than the milk represented bynutritional substance B at an earlier time. This change to a desirednutritional value in a nutritional substance, ΔN, over a change in acondition of the nutritional substance described in FIG. 2 can bemeasured and controlled throughout the nutritional substance supplysystem 10 in FIG. 1. This example demonstrates how dynamically generatedinformation regarding a ΔN of a dynamically labeled nutritionalsubstance, in this case a change in nutritional value of milk duringlogistic transport, can be used to understand a rate at which thatnutritional value changes or degrades; when that nutritional valueexpires; and a residual nutritional value of the nutritional substanceover a change in a condition of the nutritional substance, in thisexample a change during logistic transport. This ΔN information couldfurther be used to determine a best-use date for nutritional substance Aand B, which could be different from each other depending upon thedynamically generated information for each.

There is also the ΔN as two or more nutritional substances combine. Forexample, when lemon is added to guacamole it keeps the avocado in theguacamole from turning black. Referring again to FIG. 2, the functionplotted as nutritional substance A could show a ΔN for guacamole made bya first transformer, such as the degradation of an aesthetic value ofguacamole during logistic transport by modality L₁, in this case adegradation of its green color. Any point on this curve can be comparedto another point to measure and/or describe the change in aestheticvalue, or the ΔN of nutritional substance A during logistic transport bymodality L₁. The plot of the degradation in the same aesthetic value ofnutritional substance B, a guacamole made by a second transformer,describes the change in the same aesthetic value, or the ΔN, ofnutritional substance B during logistic transport by the same modalityL₁. Nutritional substance B starts out with a higher aesthetic valuethan nutritional substance A, but degrades during logistic transport bymodality L₁ more quickly than nutritional substance A during logistictransport by modality L₁. The more rapid degradation of nutritionalsubstance B during logistic transport by the same logistic transportmodality L₁ is a consequence of the transformer of nutritional substanceB adding less lemon juice to their guacamole in order not to distractfrom the flavor of the avocado. If nutritional substance A andnutritional substance B are provided with dynamic labeling, which mayinclude a dynamic information identifier for each nutritional substanceA and B referencing the information regarding the degradation ofaesthetic values of the respective nutritional substances, a retailermaking a purchasing decision regarding the nutritional substances A andB could retrieve desired ΔN information, such as the aestheticdegradation profile referenced to each guacamole, from a dynamicnutritional value database in information module 100. For example, ifthe retailer is purchasing the guacamole to sell at a time before thetwo curves intersect, and the decision is based on superior aestheticvalue, the retailer is likely to choose nutritional substance B. If theretailer is purchasing the guacamole to sell after the time the twocurves intersect, and the decision is based on superior aesthetic value,the retailer is likely to choose nutritional substance A, even though ithas lower aesthetic value at the time of purchase.

In another example, lemon juice is added to sliced apples duringprocessing to keep the sliced apples from turning black. The functionplotted as nutritional substance A could show a ΔN for sliced applesprocessed by a particular transformer, such as the degradation of theaesthetic value of the sliced apples during logistic transport bymodality L₁, in this case a degradation of its pale color. Any point onthis curve can be compared to another point to measure and/or describethe change in aesthetic value, or the ΔN of nutritional substance Aduring logistic transport by modality L₁. The plot of the degradation inthe same aesthetic value of nutritional substance B, a different lot ofsliced apples processed by the same transformer using the same process,describes the same change in the aesthetic value, or the ΔN, ofnutritional substance B during logistic transport by modality L₂.Nutritional substance B starts out with a higher aesthetic value thannutritional substance A, but degrades during logistic transport morequickly than nutritional substance A, for instance because preservationconditions of logistic transport by modality L₂ result in more rapiddegradation of similarly processed sliced apple's aesthetic value thanthe preservation conditions of logistic transport by modality L₁. Theinformation available is related to the interaction of the apples andlemon juice during the respective logistic transport by modalities. Ifnutritional substance A and nutritional substance B are provided withdynamic labeling, which would include a dynamic information identifierfor each nutritional substance, a retailer, such as a natural foodmarket, can make purchasing decisions related to the aesthetic value ofthe sliced apples at a given point in time. Using the dynamicinformation identifier obtained from the dynamic labeling provided witheach nutritional substance, the retailer could retrieve desired ΔNinformation, such as the aesthetic degradation profile referenced to thedifferent lots of sliced apples shipped by logistic transport bymodality L₁ and L₂, from a dynamic nutritional value database. Forexample, if the retailer is purchasing the sliced apples to sell beforethe time the two curves intersect, and the decision is based on superioraesthetic value, the retailer will likely choose nutritional substanceB. If the retailer is purchasing the sliced apples and plans to sell atleast some of them after the time the two curves intersect, and thedecision is based on superior aesthetic value, the retailer may choosenutritional substance A, even though it has lower aesthetic value at thetime of purchase.

In FIG. 1, Creation module 200 can dynamically encode nutritionalsubstances, as part of the nutritional substance dynamic labeling, toenable the tracking of changes in nutritional, organoleptic, and/oraesthetic value of the nutritional substance, or ΔN. This dynamicencoding, also referred to herein as a dynamic information identifier,can replace and/or complement existing nutritional substance markingsystems such as barcodes, labels, and/or ink markings. This dynamicencoding, or dynamic information identifier, can be used to makenutritional substance information from creation module 200 available toinformation module 100 for use by preservation module 300 (whichincludes storage and logistic transport), transformation module 400,conditioning module 500, and/or consumption module 600, which includesthe ultimate consumer of the nutritional substance. A key resource alsoavailable through module 100 is recipe information regarding meals thatmay utilize the nutritional substances as components. The ΔN informationcombined with recipe information from module 100 will not only be ofgreat benefit to the consumer in understanding and accomplishing thenutritional, organoleptic, and aesthetic values desired, it will evenhelp dispel misunderstandings that consumers may have about particularnutritional, organoleptic, and aesthetic values of nutritionalsubstances or the combination or nutritional substances. One method ofproviding dynamically labeled nutritional substances with a dynamicinformation identifier by creation module 200, or any other module innutritional supply system 10, could include an electronic taggingsystem, such as the tagging system manufactured by Kovio of San Jose,Calif., USA. Such thin film chips can be used not only for trackingnutritional substances, but can include components to measure attributesof nutritional substances, and record and transmit such information.Such information may be readable by a reader including a satellite-basedsystem. Such a satellite-based nutritional substance informationtracking system could comprise a network of satellites with coverage ofsome or all the surface of the earth, so as to allow the dynamicnutritional value database of information module 100 real time, or nearreal time updates about a ΔN of a particular nutritional substance. Inturn, this information is openly available and openly integrated at anypoint in time to all constituents in the nutritional substance supplysystem. It is also preferred that this information becomes openlyavailable and openly integrated as soon as it becomes available.

Preservation module 300 includes packers and shippers (also referred toherein as logistic transporters) of nutritional substances. The trackingof changes in nutritional, organoleptic, and/or aesthetic values, or aΔN, during the preservation period within preservation module 300 allowsfor dynamic expiration dates for nutritional substances. For example,expiration dates for dairy products are currently based generally onlyon time using assumptions regarding minimal conditions at which dairyproducts are maintained. This extrapolated expiration date is based on aworst-case scenario for when the product becomes unsafe to consumeduring the preservation period. In reality, the degradation of dairyproducts may be significantly less than this worst-case. If preservationmodule 300 could measure or derive the actual degradation informationsuch as ΔN, an actual expiration date, referred to herein as a dynamicexpiration date, can be determined dynamically, and could besignificantly later in time than an extrapolated expiration date. Thiswould allow the nutritional substance supply system to dispose of fewerproducts due to expiration dates. This ability to dynamically generateexpiration dates for nutritional substances is of particularsignificance when nutritional substances contain few or nopreservatives. Such products are highly valued throughout nutritionalsubstance supply system 10, including consumers who are willing to pay apremium for nutritional substances with few or no preservatives.Consumers of nutritional substances provided with dynamic labelingcomprising dynamic information identifiers can readily accessinformation regarding dynamic expiration dates for the nutritionalsubstances, and such dynamic expiration dates could take intoconsideration changes in nutritional, organoleptic, and aesthetic valuesoccurring during logistic transport.

It should be noted that a dynamic expiration date need not be indicatednumerically (i.e., as a numerical date) but could be indicatedsymbolically as by the use of colors—such as green, yellow and redemployed on semaphores—or other designations. In those instances, thedynamic expiration date would not be interpreted literally but, rather,as a dynamically-determined advisory date. In practice a dynamicexpiration date will be provided for at least one component of a singleor multi-component nutritional substance. For multi-componentnutritional substances, the dynamic expiration date could be interpretedas a “best” date for consumption or “best-use” date for particularcomponents. Consumers of nutritional substances provided with dynamiclabeling comprising dynamic information identifiers could readily accessthis type of information regarding dynamic expiration dates for thenutritional substances, even taking into consideration changes innutritional, organoleptic, and aesthetic values occurring duringlogistic transport. It is understood that all entities in thenutritional substance supply system can access such information.

By law, in many localities, food processors such as those intransformation module 400 are required to provide nutritional substanceinformation regarding their products. Often, this information takes theform of a nutritional table applied to the packaging of the nutritionalsubstance. Currently, the information in this nutritional table is basedon averages or minimums for their typical product. Using the nutritionalsubstance information from information module 100 provided by creationmodule 200, preservation module 300, and/or information from thetransformation of the nutritional substance by transformation module400, the food processor could include a dynamically generatednutritional value table, also referred to herein as a dynamicnutritional value table, for the actual dynamically-labeled nutritionalsubstance being supplied. The information in such a dynamic nutritionalvalue table could be used by conditioning module 500 in the preparationof the dynamically-labeled nutritional substance, and/or used byconsumption module 600, so as to allow the ultimate consumer the abilityto select the most desirable dynamically-labeled nutritional substancewhich meets their needs, and/or to track information regardingdynamically-labeled nutritional substances consumed. It is understoodthat nutritional substances may experience more than one preservation ormore than one transformation on their journey from creation toconsumption, and it is further understood that the nutritional substanceinformation from information module 100 may be openly available to allmodules including creation module 200, preservation module 300(including logistic transport), transformation module 400, conditioningmodule 500, and consumer module 600.

Information about changes in nutritional, organoleptic, and/or aestheticvalues of nutritional substances, or ΔN, is particularly useful in theconditioning module 500 of the present invention, as it allows knowing,or estimating, the pre-conditioning state of the nutritional,organoleptic, and/or aesthetic values of the dynamically labelednutritional substance, and allows for estimation of a ΔN associated withproposed conditioning parameters. The conditioning module 500 cantherefore create conditioning parameters, such as by modifying existingor baseline conditioning parameters, which can exist as recipes andconditioning protocols available through the information module 100 ormay be available locally available through the conditioning module 500,to deliver desired nutritional, organoleptic, and/or aesthetic valuesafter conditioning. The pre-conditioning state of the nutritional,organoleptic, and/or aesthetic value of a nutritional substance is nottracked or provided to the consumer by existing information systems orconditioners, nor is the ΔN expected from a proposed conditioningtracked or provided to the consumer either before or after conditioning.However, using information provided by information module 100 fromcreation module 200, preservation module 300 (including logistictransport), transformation module 400, and/or information measured orgenerated by conditioning module 500 and/or consumer information fromthe consumer module 600, conditioning module 500 could provide theconsumer with the actual, and/or estimated change in nutritional,organoleptic, and/or aesthetic values of a dynamically-labelednutritional substance, or ΔN. Such information regarding the change tonutritional, organoleptic and/or aesthetic value of thedynamically-labeled nutritional substance, or ΔN, could be provided notonly to the consumer, but could also be provided to information module100 for use by creation module 200, preservation module 300 (includinglogistic transport), transformation module 400, so as to track, andpossibly improve nutritional substances throughout the entirenutritional substance supply system 10.

The information regarding nutritional substances provided by informationmodule 100 to consumption module 600 can replace or complement existinginformation sources such as recipe books, food databases likewww.epicurious.com, and Epicurious apps. Through the use of specificinformation regarding a dynamically-labeled nutritional substance frominformation module 100, consumers can use consumption module 600 toselect nutritional substances according to their residual nutritional,organoleptic, and/or aesthetic values. This will further allow consumersto make informed decisions regarding nutritional substance additives,preservatives, genetic modifications, origins, traceability,adulteration, and other nutritional substance attributes that may alsobe tracked through the information module 100. This information can beprovided by consumption module 600 through personal computers, laptopcomputers, tablet computers, and/or smartphones. Software running onthese devices can include dedicated computer programs, modules withingeneral programs, and/or smartphone apps. An example of such asmartphone app regarding nutritional substances is the iOS ShopNoGMOfrom the Institute for Responsible Technology. This iPhone app allowsconsumers access to information regarding non-genetically modifiedorganisms they may select. Additionally, consumption module 600 mayprovide information for the consumer to operate conditioning module 500in such a manner as to optimize residual nutritional, organoleptic,and/or aesthetic values of a dynamically-labeled nutritional substanceand/or component nutritional substances thereof according to theconsumer's needs or preference, and/or minimize degradation of,preserve, or improve residual nutritional, organoleptic, and/oraesthetic value of a dynamically-labeled nutritional substance and/orcomponent nutritional substances thereof.

Through the use of nutritional substance information available frominformation module 100 nutritional substance supply system 10 can tracknutritional, organoleptic, and/or aesthetic value of dynamically-labelednutritional substances. Using this information, dynamically-labelednutritional substances travelling through nutritional substance supplysystem 10 can be dynamically valued and priced according to residualnutritional, organoleptic, and/or aesthetic values. For example,nutritional substances with longer dynamic expiration dates (longershelf life) may be more highly valued than nutritional substances withshorter expiration dates. Additionally, nutritional substances withhigher nutritional, organoleptic, and/or aesthetic values may be morehighly valued, not just by the consumer, but also by each entity withinnutritional substance supply system 10. This is because each entity willwant to start with a nutritional substance with higher nutritional,organoleptic, and/or aesthetic value before it performs its function andpasses the nutritional substance along to the next entity. Therefore,both the starting nutritional, organoleptic, and/or aesthetic value andthe ΔN associated with those values are important factors in determiningor estimating an actual, or residual, nutritional, organoleptic, and/oraesthetic value of a nutritional substance, and accordingly areimportant factors in establishing dynamically valued and pricednutritional substances.

During the period of implementation of the present inventions, therewill be nutritional substances being marketed including those benefitingfrom dynamic labeling and the tracking of dynamic nutritionalinformation such as ΔN, also referred to herein as information-enablednutritional substances, and nutritional substances which do not benefitfrom dynamic labeling or the tracking of dynamic nutritional informationsuch as ΔN, which are not information enabled and are referred to hereinas dumb nutritional substances. Information-enabled nutritionalsubstances would be available in virtual internet marketplaces, as wellas traditional marketplaces. Because of information provided byinformation-enabled nutritional substances, entities within thenutritional substance supply system 10, including consumers, would beable to review and select information-enabled nutritional substances forpurchase. It should be expected that, initially, the information-enablednutritional substances would enjoy a higher market value and price thandumb nutritional substances. However, as information-enabled nutritionalsubstances become more the norm, the cost savings from less waste due todegradation of information-enabled nutritional substances could lead totheir price actually becoming less than dumb nutritional substances.Ultimately, an information system will evolve wherein information module100 has the ability for creating traffic and signing on the address ofusers to not only facilitate the rapid adoption and utilization ofbetter nutritional substance information, but also be a key source ofbusiness and revenue growth.

In the example of the ready-to-eat frozen dinner, the transformer of theready-to-eat frozen dinner would prefer to use corn of a highnutritional, organoleptic, and/or aesthetic value in the production ofits product, the ready-to-eat frozen dinner, so as to produce a premiumproduct of high residual nutritional, organoleptic, and/or aestheticvalue. Depending upon the post transformation levels of the nutritional,organoleptic, and/or aesthetic values, the ready-to-eat frozen dinnerproducer may be able to charge a premium price and/or differentiate itsproduct from that of other transformers. When selecting the corn to beused in the ready-to-eat frozen dinner, the transformer will seek cornof high nutritional, organoleptic, and/or aesthetic value frompreservation module 300 that meets its requirements for nutritional,organoleptic, and/or aesthetic value. The packager/shipper ofpreservation module 300 would also be able to charge a premium for cornwhich has high nutritional, organoleptic, and/or aesthetic values.Accordingly, the packager/shipper of preservation module 300 will selectcorn that is received from the grower of creation module 200 with highnutritional, organoleptic, and/or aesthetic value and transfer the cornto the transformer by logistic transport that best maintains thosevalues. In turn, the grower of creation module 200 will also be able tocharge a premium for corn of high nutritional, organoleptic, and/oraesthetic values, and will endeavor to grow corn with high initialnutritional, organoleptic, and aesthetic values and transfer the corn tothe packager/shipper by logistic transport that best maintains thosevalues.

The change to nutritional, organoleptic, and/or aesthetic value for aninformation-enabled nutritional substance, or ΔN, tracked throughnutritional substance supply system 10 through nutritional substanceinformation from information module 100 can be preferably determinedfrom measured information. However, some or all such nutritionalsubstance ΔN information may be derived through measurements ofenvironmental conditions of the nutritional substance as it travelsthrough nutritional substance supply system 10. Additionally, some orall of the information-enabled nutritional substance ΔN information canbe derived from ΔN data of other information-enabled nutritionalsubstances which have travelled through nutritional substance supplysystem 10. Information-enabled nutritional substance ΔN information canalso be derived from laboratory experiments performed on othernutritional substances, which may approximate conditions and/orprocesses to which the actual information-enabled nutritional substancehas been exposed. Further, consumer feedback and updates regardingobserved or measured changes in the nutritional, organoleptic, and/oraesthetic value of information-enabled nutritional substances can play arole in updating ΔN information. Also, a creator, preserver (includinglogistic transporters), transformer, or conditioner may revise ΔNinformation, or information regarding other attributes ofinformation-enabled nutritional substances they have previously createdor processed, based upon newly acquired information affecting the ΔN orthe other attributes.

For example, laboratory experiments can be performed on bananas todetermine effect on or change in nutritional, organoleptic, and/oraesthetic value, or ΔN, for a variety of environmental conditionsbananas may be exposed to during packaging and shipment in preservationmodule 300. Using this experimental data, tables and/or algorithms couldbe developed which would predict the level of change of nutritional,organoleptic, and/or aesthetic values, or ΔN, for a particularinformation-enabled banana based upon information collected regardingthe environmental conditions to which the information-enabled banana wasexposed during its time in preservation module 300. While the ultimategoal for nutritional substance supply system 10 would be the actualmeasurement of nutritional, organoleptic, and/or aesthetic values todetermine ΔN, use of derived nutritional, organoleptic, and/or aestheticvalues from experimental data to determine ΔN would allow improvedlogistics planning because it provides the ability to prospectivelyestimate changes to nutritional, organoleptic, and/or aesthetic values,or ΔN, and because it allows more accurate tracking of changes tonutritional, organoleptic, and/or aesthetic values, or ΔN, whiletechnology and systems are put in place to allow actual measurement.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the preservation module of the presentinvention. Preservation system 300 includes a container 310 whichcontains nutritional substance 320. Also included in container 310 isinformation storage module 330 which can be connected to an externalreader 340. In this embodiment, information storage module 330 containsinformation regarding the nutritional substance 320. This informationcan include creation information from the creation of the nutritionalsubstance 320. Additionally, information in the information storagemodule 330 might include unique nutritional substance identificationinformation, including but not limited to a dynamic informationidentifier, information regarding prior transformation or preservationof the nutritional substance 320, information related to ΔN, and otherhistoric information. A shipper, or user, of container 310 canoperatively connect to information storage module 330 using reader 340to retrieve information stored therein. It is understood that reader 340can additionally transmit information retrieved from information storagemodule 330 to information module 100, wherein such information isreferenced to the unique nutritional substance identificationinformation.

In another embodiment, reader 340 can also write to information storagemodule 330. In this embodiment, information regarding the container 310and/or nutritional substance 320 can be modified or added to informationstorage module 330 by the user or shipper, such as a storage facility orlogistic transporter. In a further embodiment, such information issensed or detected by the reader 340.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of preservation system 300 whereincontainer 310 contains nutritional substance 320 as well as controller350. Controller 350 is connected to external sensor 360 located eitherinside, on the surface of, or external to container 310 such thatexternal sensor 360 can obtain information regarding the environmentexternal to container 310. Controller 350 and exterior sensor 360 cantake the form of electronic components such as a micro-controller and anelectronic sensor. However, the controller-sensor combination may alsobe chemical or organic materials which perform the same function, suchas a liquid crystal sensor/display.

When the shipper or user (such as a storage facility or logistictransporter) of container 310 desires information from external sensor360 the shipper or user can use reader 340 to query the controller 350as to the state of external sensor 360. A unique nutritional substanceidentifier, such as a dynamic information identifier referenced to thenutritional substance 320, may be associated with at least one of theexternal sensor 360, the controller 350, or the container 310, such thatwhen reader 340 queries controller 350 as to the state of externalsensor 360, the information received is associated with the uniquenutritional substance identifier. The external sensor, controller, andreader may take any known forms, including but not limited to, anelectronic component embodiment where reader 340 could be a userinterface device such as a computer which can be electronicallyconnected to controller 350, or a liquid crystal sensor/displayembodiment, where the reader could be a human looking at the display.

In one embodiment, reader 340 can be directly connected to externalsensor 360 to obtain the information from external sensor 360 withoutneed of a controller 350. In another embodiment, external sensor 360provides information to controller 350 which is presented as a visualdisplay to the shipper or user. Alternatively, external sensor 360 couldprovide information directly to the user or shipper by visual means suchas a temperature sensitive liquid crystal thermometer. It is understoodthat reader 340 may additionally transmit information retrieved fromcontroller 350 or external sensor 360, along with the associated uniquenutritional substance identifier, to information module 100, whereinsuch information is referenced to the unique nutritional substanceidentifier.

In an additional embodiment, controller 350 can modify the operation ofcontainer 310 so as modify the preservation capabilities of container310, so as to favorably influence a ΔN of the nutritional substance. Forexample, if the exterior environment of container 310 would adverselyaffect the nutritional substance 320, controller 350 could adjust theinternal environment of container 310 to better preserve the nutritionalsubstance. If nutritional substance needs to be kept within a desiredtemperature range to preserve its nutritional, organoleptic, and/oraesthetic properties, and the external sensor 360 provides exteriortemperature information to controller 350 that it is currently outsidethe desired range or may potentially fall outside the desired range,controller 350 could modify container 310 so as to maintain nutritionalsubstance 320 within the desired temperature range.

In FIG. 5, preservation system 300 includes container 310 which containsnutritional substance 320, controller 350, and information storagemodule 330. External sensor 360 is positioned such that it can provideinformation on the exterior environment to container 310. Informationfrom the external sensor 360 and information storage module 330 can beretrieved by connecting reader 340 to container 310, so as to obtain theinformation via the controller 350. It is understood that connectingreader 340 to container 310 includes any known contact or non-contactformats that facilitate data transfer.

In this embodiment, information regarding the external environmentsensed by external sensor 360 and provided to controller 350 can bestored in information storage module 330. This storage of externalenvironment can be used to record a history the external environmentcontainer 310 has been subjected to. This would allow the shipper oruser of container 310 to understand the external environment thecontainer has been subjected to during the time it has preserved thenutritional substance. Such information can be used to determine anynumber of ΔN values for the nutritional substance and if the nutritionalsubstance has been degraded such that it is no longer in an optimalstate or if it is no longer safe for consumption. Additionally, the userof the nutritional substance could modify its transformation,conditioning, or consumption according to any changes, or ΔNs, that mayhave occurred because of the external conditions of the container.

Additionally, in this embodiment, information storage module 330 couldcontain other information regarding the nutritional substance 320,including, but not limited to, creation information, and priortransformation or preservation information. Additionally, information inthe information storage module 330 might include unique nutritionalsubstance identification information, including but not limited to adynamic information identifier. In this way, the information obtained byreader 340 is associated with the unique nutritional substanceidentifier. It is understood that reader 340 may additionally transmitinformation retrieved from information storage module 330, including theassociated unique nutritional substance identifier, to informationmodule 100, wherein such information is referenced to the uniquenutritional substance identifier.

In an additional embodiment, controller 350 can modify the operation ofcontainer 310 so as modify the preservation capabilities of container310, so as to favorably influence a ΔN of the nutritional substance. Forexample, if the exterior environment of container 310 would adverselyaffect the nutritional substance 320, controller 350 could adjust theinternal environment of container 310 to better preserve the nutritionalsubstance. Controller 350 can analyze the historic information fromexternal sensor 360, stored in information storage module 330 todetermine any long-term exterior conditions environmental If nutritionalsubstance needs to be kept within a desired temperature range topreserve its nutritional, organoleptic and/or aesthetic properties, andthe external sensor 360 provides exterior temperature information tocontroller 350 indicating that it is outside the desired range or atrisk of going outside the desired range, controller 350 could modifycontainer 310 so as to maintain nutritional substance 320 within thedesired temperature range.

In another embodiment, reader 340 can also write to information storagemodule 330 via controller 350. In this embodiment, information regardingthe container 310 and/or nutritional substance 320 can be modified oradded to information storage module 330 by the user or shipper, such asa storage facility or logistic transporter. In a further embodiment,such information is sensed or detected by the reader 340.

FIG. 6 shows an embodiment of preservation system 300 wherein container310 contains nutritional substance 320 as well as internal sensor 370located either inside, or on an inner surface of, container 310, suchthat internal sensor 370 can obtain information regarding theenvironment internal to container 310. Reader 340 can obtain informationregarding the interior conditions of container 310 from internal sensor370. Internal sensor 370 and reader 340 can take many known forms,including but not limited to electronic components such as an electronicsensor and electronic display, or chemical or organic materials whichperform the same function, such as a liquid crystal sensor/display.

When the shipper or user of container 310 desires information frominternal sensor 370, it can be retrieved by connecting reader 340 tocontainer 310, so as to obtain the information from the internal sensor370 as to the state of internal sensor 370. It is understood thatconnecting reader 340 to container 310 includes any known contact ornon-contact formats that facilitate data transfer. A unique nutritionalsubstance identifier, such as a dynamic information identifierreferenced to the nutritional substance 320, may be associated with atleast one of the internal sensor 370 or the container 310, such thatwhen reader 340 queries as to the state of internal sensor 370, theinformation obtained is associated with the unique nutritional substanceidentifier. It is understood that reader 340 may additionally transmitinformation retrieved from internal sensor 370, including the associatedunique nutritional substance identifier, to information module 100,wherein such information is referenced to the unique nutritionalsubstance identifier.

FIG. 7 shows embodiment of preservation system 300 wherein container 310contains nutritional substance 320 as well as controller 350. Controller350 is connected to internal sensor 370 located either inside, or on aninner surface of, container 310, such that internal sensor 370 canobtain information regarding the environment internal to container 310.Controller 350 and internal sensor 370 can take any known form, whichinclude but are not limited to electronic components such as amicro-controller and an electronic sensor, or chemical or organicmaterials which perform the same function, such as a liquid crystalsensor/display.

When the shipper or user of container 310 desires information frominternal sensor 370, it can be retrieved by connecting reader 340 tocontainer 310, so as to obtain the information via controller 350 as tothe state of internal sensor 370. It is understood that connectingreader 340 to container 310 includes any known contact or non-contactformats that facilitate data transfer. A unique nutritional substanceidentifier, such as a dynamic information identifier referenced to thenutritional substance 320, may be associated with at least one of theinternal sensor 370, the controller 350, or the container 310, such thatwhen reader 340 queries as to the state of internal sensor 370, theinformation obtained is associated with the unique nutritional substanceidentifier. It is understood that reader 340 may additionally transmitinformation obtained from internal sensor 370, including the associatedunique nutritional substance identifier, to information module 100,wherein such information is referenced to the unique nutritionalsubstance identifier. In an example of an electronic componentembodiment, reader 340 could be a user interface device such as acomputer which can be electronically connected to internal sensor 370via controller 350.

In an additional embodiment, controller 350 can modify the operation ofcontainer 310 so as modify the preservation capabilities of container310, so as to favorably influence a ΔN of the nutritional substance. Forexample, if the interior environment of container 310 would adverselyaffect the nutritional substance 320, controller 350 could adjust theinternal environment of container 310 to better preserve the nutritionalsubstance. If nutritional substance needs to be kept within a desiredtemperature range to preserve its nutritional, organoleptic, and/oraesthetic properties, and the internal sensor 370 provides internaltemperature information to controller 350 indicating that it is outsidethe desired range or may potentially go outside the desired range,controller 350 could modify container 310 so as to maintain nutritionalsubstance 320 within the desired temperature range.

In FIG. 8, preservation system 300 includes container 310 which containsnutritional substance 320, controller 350, and information storagemodule 330. Internal sensor 370 is positioned such that it can provideinformation on the internal environment to container 310. Informationfrom the internal sensor 370 and information storage module 330 can beretrieved by connecting reader 340 to container 310, so as to obtain theinformation via the controller 350. It is understood that connectingreader 340 to container 310 includes any known contact or non-contactformats that facilitate data transfer.

In this embodiment, information regarding the internal environmentsensed by internal sensor 370 and provided to controller 350 can bestored in information storage module 330. This storage of internalenvironment can be used to record a history the internal environmentcontainer 310 has been subjected to. This would allow the shipper oruser of container 310 to understand the internal environment thecontainer has been subjected to during the time it has preserved thenutritional substance. Such information can be used to determine anynumber of ΔN values of the nutritional substance, such as if thenutritional substance has been degraded such that it is no longer in anoptimal nutritional, organoleptic, or aesthetic state, or if it is nolonger safe for consumption. Additionally, the user of the nutritionalsubstance could modify its transformation, conditioning, or consumptionaccording to any changes, or ΔNs, that may have occurred because of theinternal conditions of the container.

Additionally, in this embodiment, information storage module 330 couldcontain other information regarding the nutritional substance 320,including, but not limited to, creation information, and priortransformation or preservation information. Additionally, information inthe information storage module 330 might include unique nutritionalsubstance identification information, including but not limited to adynamic information identifier. In this way, the information obtained byreader 340 is associated with the unique nutritional substanceidentifier. It is understood that reader 340 may additionally transmitinformation retrieved from information storage module 330, including theassociated unique nutritional substance identifier, to informationmodule 100, wherein such information is referenced to the uniquenutritional substance identifier.

In an additional embodiment, controller 350 can modify the operation ofcontainer 310 so as modify the preservation capabilities of container310. For example, if the internal environment of container 310 wouldadversely affect the nutritional substance 320, controller 350 couldadjust the internal environment of container 310, so as to favorablyinfluence a ΔN of the nutritional substance. Controller 350 can analyzethe historic information from internal sensor 370, stored in informationstorage module 330, to determine any long-term internal environmentalconditions. If the nutritional substance needs to be kept within adesired temperature range to preserve its organoleptic and/ornutritional properties, and the internal sensor 370 provides internaltemperature information to controller 350 indicating that it iscurrently or potentially outside the desired range, controller 350 couldmodify container 310 so as to maintain nutritional substance 320 withinthe desired temperature range.

In another embodiment, reader 340 can also write to information storagemodule 330 via controller 350. In this embodiment, information regardingthe container 310 and/or nutritional substance 320 can be modified oradded to information storage module 330 by the user or shipper, such asa storage facility or logistic transporter. In a further embodiment,such information is sensed or detected by the reader 340.

FIG. 9 shows an alternate embodiment of the present invention.Preservation system 300 includes container 310 which containsnutritional substance 320, nutritional substance label 325, controller350, and information storage module 330. Internal sensor 370 ispositioned such that it can provide information on the internalenvironment to container 310. Information from the internal sensor 370and information storage module 330 can be retrieved by connecting reader340 to container 310, so as to obtain the information via the controller350. It is understood that connecting reader 340 to container 310includes any known contact or non-contact formats that facilitate datatransfer. Nutritional substance label 325 is attached to nutritionalsubstance 320 so as to sense, measure, and/or indicate a current stateof nutritional substance 320. Nutritional substance label 325 can beread by reader 340. Nutritional substance label 325 could be any knowntype of biosensor, including but not limited to a material/chemical tagthat, through a physical reaction with the surface of nutritionalsubstance 320, provides information regarding the nutritional,organoleptic, and/or aesthetic state of the nutritional substance, orinformation regarding changes in the nutritional, organoleptic, andaesthetic values of the nutritional substance, including wherenutritional substance 320 is in its life cycle. As an example, thislabel/tag could change color as a fruit, cheese or wine matures acrosstime. It could also indicate if it detects traces of pesticides,hormones, allergens, harmful or dangerous bacteria, or any othersubstances.

In this embodiment, information regarding the internal environmentsensed by internal sensor 370 and provided to controller 350 can bestored in information storage module 330. This storage of internalenvironment can be used to record a history the internal environmentcontainer 310 has been subjected to. This would allow the shipper oruser of container 310 to understand the internal environment thecontainer has been subjected to during the time it has preserved thenutritional substance. Such information can be used to determine anynumber of ΔN values for the nutritional substance, including if thenutritional substance has been degraded such that it is no longer in anoptimal state, or if it is no longer safe for consumption. Additionally,the user of the nutritional substance could modify its transformation,conditioning, or consumption according to any changes, or ΔNs, that mayhave occurred because of the internal conditions of the container.

Additionally, in this embodiment, information storage module 330 couldcontain other information regarding the nutritional substance 320,including, but not limited to, creation information, and priortransformation or preservation information. Additionally, information inthe information storage module 330 might include unique nutritionalsubstance identification information, including but not limited to adynamic information identifier. In this way, the information obtained byreader 340 is associated with the unique nutritional substanceidentifier. It is understood that reader 340 may additionally transmitinformation retrieved from information storage module 330, including theassociated unique nutritional substance identifier, as well asinformation retrieved from nutritional substance label 325, toinformation module 100, wherein such information is referenced to theunique nutritional substance identifier.

In an additional embodiment, controller 350 can modify the operation ofcontainer 310 so as modify the preservation capabilities of container310, so as to favorably influence a ΔN of the nutritional substance. Forexample, if the internal environment of container 310 would adverselyaffect the nutritional substance 320, container 310 could adjust theinternal environment of container 310 to better preserve the nutritionalsubstance. Controller 350 can analyze the historic information frominternal sensor 370, stored in information storage module 330 todetermine any long-term internal environmental conditions. Ifnutritional substance needs to be kept within a desired temperaturerange to preserve its nutritional, organoleptic and/or aestheticproperties, and the internal sensor 370 provides internal temperatureinformation to controller 350 indicating that it is currently orpotentially outside the desired range, controller 350 could modifycontainer 310 so as to maintain nutritional substance 320 within thedesired temperature range.

In another embodiment, reader 340 can also write to information storagemodule 330 via controller 350. In this embodiment, information regardingthe container 310 and/or nutritional substance 320 can be modified oradded to information storage module 330 by the user or shipper, such asa storage facility or logistic transporter. In a further embodiment,such information is sensed or detected by the reader 340, and mayinclude information obtained from nutritional substance label 325 byreader 340. It is understood that controller 350 may modify thecontainer 310 in response to information that reader 340 writes toinformation storage module 330, including, but not limited to,information read from nutritional substance label 325.

FIG. 10 shows embodiment of preservation system 300 wherein container310 contains nutritional substance 320 as well as nutritional substancesensor 380 in contact with nutritional substance 320, such thatnutritional substance sensor 380 can obtain information regarding thenutritional substance 320 in container 310. Nutritional substance sensor380 and reader 340 can take any known forms, including but not limitedto, biosensors and associated handheld scanners, electronic componentssuch as an electronic sensors and electronic display, or chemical ororganic materials which perform the same function, such as a liquidcrystal sensor/display.

When the shipper or user of container 310 desires information fromnutritional substance sensor 380, it can be retrieved by connectingreader 340 to container 310, so as to obtain the information from thenutritional substance sensor 380 as to the state of nutritionalsubstance 320. It is understood that connecting reader 340 to container310 includes any known contact or non-contact formats that facilitatedata transfer. A unique nutritional substance identifier, such as adynamic information identifier referenced to the nutritional substance320, may be associated with at least one of the nutritional substancesensor 380 or the container 310, such that when reader 340 queries as tothe state of nutritional substance sensor 380, the information obtainedis associated with the unique nutritional substance identifier. It isunderstood that reader 340 may additionally transmit informationretrieved from nutritional substance sensor 380, including theassociated unique nutritional substance identifier, to informationmodule 100, wherein such information is referenced to the uniquenutritional substance identifier.

FIG. 11 shows an embodiment of preservation system 300 wherein container310 contains nutritional substance 320 as well as nutritional substancesensor 380 in contact with nutritional substance 320, such thatnutritional substance sensor 380 can obtain information regarding thenutritional substance 320 in container 310, as well as controller 350.Controller 350 is connected to nutritional substance sensor 380.Controller 350 can take any known form, including but not limited to anelectronic micro-controller. Nutritional substance sensor 380 and reader340 can take any known forms, including but not limited to, biosensorsand associated handheld scanners, electronic components such as anelectronic sensor and display, or chemical or organic materials whichperform the same function, such as a liquid crystal sensor/display.

When the shipper or user of container 310 desires information fromnutritional substance sensor 380, it can be retrieved by connectingreader 340 to container 310, so as to obtain the information from thenutritional substance sensor 380 via controller 350, as to the state ofnutritional substance 320. It is understood that connecting reader 340to container 310 includes any known contact or non-contact formats thatfacilitate data transfer. A unique nutritional substance identifier,such as a dynamic information identifier referenced to the nutritionalsubstance 320, may be associated with at least one of the nutritionalsubstance sensor 380, the controller 350, or the container 310, suchthat when reader 340 queries as to the state of nutritional substancesensor 380, the information obtained is associated with the uniquenutritional substance identifier. It is understood that reader 340 mayadditionally transmit information retrieved from nutritional substancesensor 380, including the associated unique nutritional substanceidentifier, to information module 100, wherein such information isreferenced to the unique nutritional substance identifier.

In an additional embodiment, controller 350 can modify the operation ofcontainer 310 so as modify the preservation capabilities of container310, so as to favorably influence a ΔN of the nutritional substance. Forexample, if the interior environment of container 310 is adverselyaffecting the nutritional substance 320, as indicated by informationprovided by nutritional substance sensor 380, controller 350 couldadjust the nutritional substance environment of container 310 to betterpreserve the nutritional substance. For example, if nutritionalsubstance 320 needs to be kept within a desired temperature range tobest preserve its nutritional, organoleptic, and/or aestheticproperties, and the nutritional substance sensor 380 providesnutritional substance information to controller 350 indicating itsnutritional, organoleptic, and/or aesthetic properties are degrading toorapidly and likely to be outside the desired range soon, controller 350could modify container 310 so as to maintain the nutritional,organoleptic, and/or aesthetic properties of nutritional substance 320within the desired range.

In FIG. 12, preservation system 300 includes container 310 whichcontains nutritional substance 320, as well as nutritional substancesensor 380 in contact with nutritional substance 320 such thatnutritional substance sensor 380 can obtain information regarding thenutritional substance 320, controller 350, and information storagemodule 330. Information from the nutritional substance sensor 380 andinformation storage module 330 can be retrieved by connecting reader 340to container 310, so as to obtain the information via controller 350, asto the state of nutritional substance 320. It is understood thatconnecting reader 340 to container 310 includes any known contact ornon-contact formats that facilitate data transfer.

In this embodiment, information regarding the nutritional substancesensed by nutritional substance sensor 380, and provided to controller350, can be stored in information storage module 330. This storage ofnutritional substance information can be used to record a history thenutritional substance. This would allow the shipper or user of container310 to understand the nutritional substance during the time it has beenpreserved. Such information can be used to determine any number of ΔNvalues of the nutritional substance and if the nutritional substance hasbeen degraded such that it is no longer in an optimal state, or if it isno longer safe for consumption. Additionally, the user of thenutritional substance could modify its transformation, conditioning, orconsumption according to any changes, or ΔNs, that may have occurred asevidenced by the information from nutritional substance sensor 380stored in information storage module 330.

Additionally, in this embodiment, information storage module 330 couldcontain other information regarding the nutritional substance 320,including, but not limited to, creation information, and priortransformation or preservation information. Additionally, information inthe information storage module 330 might include unique nutritionalsubstance identification information, including but not limited to adynamic information identifier. In this way, the information obtained byreader 340 is associated with the unique nutritional substanceidentifier. It is understood that reader 340 may additionally transmitinformation retrieved from information storage module 330, including theassociated unique nutritional substance identifier, to informationmodule 100, wherein such information is referenced to the uniquenutritional substance identifier.

In an additional embodiment, controller 350 can modify the operation ofcontainer 310 so as modify the preservation capabilities of container310. For example, if the nutritional substance 320 is being adverselyaffected, as indicated by data provided by nutritional substance sensor380, controller 350 could adjust the container 310 to better preservethe nutritional substance. Controller 350 can analyze the historicinformation from nutritional substance sensor 380 stored in informationstorage module 330 to determine any long-term nutritional substanceconditions that need to be changed. For example, if nutritionalsubstance 320 needs to be kept within a desired temperature range tobest preserve its nutritional, organoleptic, and/or aestheticproperties, and the nutritional substance sensor 380 providesnutritional substance information to controller 350 indicating itsnutritional, organoleptic, and/or aesthetic properties are degrading toorapidly and likely to be outside the desired range soon, controller 350could modify container 310 so as to maintain the nutritional,organoleptic, and/or aesthetic properties of nutritional substance 320within the desired range.

In another embodiment, reader 340 can also write to information storagemodule 330 via controller 350. In this embodiment, information regardingthe container 310 and/or nutritional substance 320 can be modified oradded to information storage module 330 by the user or shipper, such asa storage facility or logistic transporter. In a further embodiment,such information is sensed or detected by the reader 340.

FIG. 13 shows the preferred embodiment of preservation module 300.Within container 310 is nutritional substance 320, as well asnutritional substance sensor 380 in contact with nutritional substance320 such that nutritional substance sensor 380 can obtain informationregarding the nutritional substance 320, internal sensor 370,information storage module 330, and controller 350. External sensor 360is located outside or on the surface of container 310. In operation,controller 350 receives information from nutritional substance sensor380, internal sensor 370, and external sensor 360. Additionally,controller 350 can store the information received from the three sensorsin information storage module 330. Controller 350 can retrieve suchstored information and transmit it to reader 340. Reader 340 can alsotransmit instructions to controller 350, or write information toinformation storage module 330.

Controller 350 is operably connected to container 310 so as to use theinformation obtained from the sensors 360, 370, and 380 and/orinformation stored in the information storage module 330 to modify theoperation of container 310 to affect the state of nutritional substance320, that is, to favorably influence a ΔN for the nutritional substance.In addition to the stored information from sensors 360, 370, and 380,information storage module 330 could contain other information regardingthe nutritional substance 320, including, but not limited to, creationinformation, and prior transformation or preservation information.Additionally, information in the information storage module 330 mightinclude unique nutritional substance identification information,including but not limited to a dynamic information identifier. In thisway, the information obtained by reader 340 is associated with theunique nutritional substance identifier. It is understood that reader340 may additionally transmit information retrieved from informationstorage module 330, including the associated unique nutritionalsubstance identifier, to information module 100, wherein suchinformation is referenced to the unique nutritional substanceidentifier.

As an example, nutritional substance 320 could be bananas being shippedto a distribution warehouse. Bananas are in container 310 which iscapable of controlling its internal temperature, humidity, and the levelof certain gasses within the container. Creation information as to thebananas is placed in information storage module 330 prior to shipment,as well as a dynamic information identifier. During shipment, externalsensor 360 measures the temperature and humidity outside container 310.This information is stored by controller 350 in information storagemodule 330. Controller 350 also receives information on the internalenvironment within container 310 from internal sensor 370 and storesthis information in information storage module 330. This informationincludes the internal temperature, humidity, and certain gas levelswithin container 310. Finally, nutritional substance sensor 380, whichis attached to the surface of the bananas, provides information as tothe state of the bananas to controller 350. This information couldinclude, but is not limited to, surface temperature, surface humidity,gasses being emitted, color, and surface chemicals. At any time duringits shipment and delivery to the distribution warehouse, reader 340 canbe used to retrieve both current information and historic informationstored within information storage module 330 and may additionallytransmit the information retrieved, including the associated uniquenutritional substance identifier, to information module 100, whereinsuch information is referenced to the unique nutritional substanceidentifier.

During shipment, container 310 modifies its internal conditionsaccording to instructions provided by controller 350. Controller 350contains instructions as to how to preserve, and possibly ripen, thebananas using information stored in information storage module 330 aboutthe creation of the bananas, as well as historical information receivedfrom the three sensors, as well as current information being receivedfrom the three sensors, as well as information that may have beenwritten to information storage module 330 from reader 340. In thismanner, preservation module 300 can preserve and optimize and minimizedegradation of the bananas. In other words, preservation module 300 canoperate in a way to variably adapt conditions in the container tofavorably influence changes in nutritional, organoleptic, and aestheticvalues/attributes, ΔNs, of the bananas, by variably altering the rate ofchange of the corresponding ΔNs while they are being shipped and stored.

In one embodiment, a means for variably adapting conditions in thecontainer to variably alter the rate of change of a monitored ΔN,includes at least one of a chemical, photochemical, mechanical,hydraulic, pneumatic, dissolution, absorption, swelling, shrinkage,component addition, component binding, component subtraction, componentconversion, electrolytic, ionic, osmotic, reverse osmotic, or thermalmeans to variably control the gaseous environment in the container inresponse to information regarding the gaseous environment in thecontainer provided by internal sensor 370, external sensor 360, ornutritional substance sensor 380.

It will be understood that subsets of the embodiment described hereincan operate to achieve the goals stated herein. In one embodiment,nutritional substance sensor 380, internal sensor 370, external sensor360, information storage module 330, controller 350, reader 340, andparts of container 310 are each electrical or electromechanical deviceswhich perform each of the indicated functions. However, it is possiblefor some or all of these functions to be done using chemical and/ororganic compounds. For example, a specifically designed plastic wrap forbananas can sense the exterior conditions of the package, the interiorconditions of the package, and adapt the conditions of the package tocontrol gas flow through its surface so as to preserve and ripen thebananas. In one embodiment of such a package, a means for adaptinggaseous conditions in the package to variably alter the rate of changeof a monitored ΔN, includes at least one of a chemical, photochemical,mechanical, hydraulic, absorption, shrinkage, swelling, pneumatic,dissolution, component addition, component binding, componentsubtraction, component conversion, electrolytic, ionic, osmotic, reverseosmotic, or thermal means.

Sensors capable of measuring and collecting data related to visualappearance, optical properties, electrical properties, mechanicalproperties, taste, smell, volatiles, texture, touch, sound, chemicalcomposition, temperature, weight, volume, density, hardness, viscosity,surface tension, and any other detectable attributes of nutritionalsubstances, may be utilized. Nutritional substance attribute sensors mayinclude, but are not limited to, optical sensors, laser sensors,cameras, electric noses, microphones, olfactory sensors, surfacetopography measurement equipment, three dimensional measuring equipment,chemical assays, hardness measuring equipment, non-invasive imagingequipment including ultrasound, x-ray, millimeter wave, and other knownnon-invasive imaging techniques, impedance detectors, temperaturemeasuring equipment, weight measurement equipment, and any known sensorcapable of providing data regarding a detectable attribute of anutritional substance.

At this juncture it can be understood that a nutritional, organolepticor aesthetic value of a nutritional substance can be indicated by itsolfactory values or its taste values. Typically, but not necessarily,olfactory values and taste values are detectable by the human sense ofsmell. However, nutritional substances may emit or produce gaseouscomponents that are not detectable or discernible by the human sense ofsmell, or components not detectable or discernible by human sense oftaste, but, nevertheless, may be indicative of a particular nutritional,organoleptic, and aesthetic state of the nutritional substance. Inaddition, olfactory values and taste values can be indicative ofadulteration of nutritional substances, such as by spoilage,contamination, or substitution of other nutritional substances.

Sensors for detecting gasses and smells may be used to provide ΔNinformation regarding nutritional substances during their logistictransport. Such sensors include, but are not limited to, nutritionalsubstance sensors discussed in Journal of Food Engineering 100 (2010)377-387 “Biomimetric-based odor and taste sensing systems to foodquality and safety characterization: An overview on basic principles andrecent achievements”; sensing described in Chem. Sci., 2012, 3, 2542“Fluorescent DNAs printed on paper: sensing food spoilage and ripeningin the vapor phase”; the use of a Silicon Integrated Spectrometer tosense food for ripeness and other qualities is described in IEEEPhotonics Journal, 1 (4), p. 225-235 (2009); a review on nano-biosensorsto measure tastes and odors discussed in Bio-Nanotechnology: Arevolution in food biomedical and health sciences, first edition, 2013,John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. “Nano-Biosensors for mimicking gustatory andolfactory senses”; ethylene sensors discussed in Anal. Chem., 2011, 83(16), pp 6300-6307, doi: 10.1021/ac2009756 “Electrochemical sensing ofethylene employing a thin ionic-liquid layer”; commercially availableEthylene Analyser sensor from Absorger Company, for sensing ethylene,O2, and CO2 levels, www.absoger.fr; a single-chip electrochemical sensorfor ethylene monitoring demonstrated by Imec and Holst Centre with adetection limit of 200-300 ppb and potentially, May 15, 2012,http://www2.1mec.be/be_en/press/imec-news/ethylenesensor.html.

In an example, and not intended to be limiting in any way, the ripeningof fruit during logistic transport can be monitored by sensed valuesprovided by such gas and smell sensors inside a logistic transportcontainer, and can further be controlled responsive to the sensedvalues. It is understood that the logistic transport container may takeany known form, including, but not limited to, transport containers on aship, rail car, airplane, trailer, or truck. Such containers maycomprise one compartment, or may comprise multiple segregatedcompartments, wherein each compartment may independently provide thebenefits of the inventions disclosed herein. Alternatively, the logistictransport container may take the form of a cardboard box shipped viaship, rail car, airplane, trailer, or truck. In yet another alternative,the logistic transport container may take the form of a ship's hold,rail box-car, airplane hold, closed trailer, or closed box-truck.

In this example, ethylene levels are monitored by ethylene sensorsinside of a logistic transport container containing fruit. Ethylene is agaseous plant hormone, produced by fruit, crops, flowers, and plants. Inthe case of fruit, ethylene is a gaseous hormone responsible forripening, and the ripening process can not only be monitored by sensingethylene levels, the ripening rate can be optimized by controlling theethylene levels responsive to the sensed ethylene levels. For instance,if sensed ethylene levels are determined to be too low, the controllerof the logistic transport container may seal the container to allowethylene concentrations to increase, or may add ethylene gas to achievedesired levels. Alternatively, if sensed ethylene levels are determinedto be too high, the controller of the logistic transport container mayventilate the container, allowing ethylene concentrations to decrease bydilution, or may add specific gasses to achieve desired ethylene levels.

In another alternative, such gas and smell sensors may be used tomonitor ripeness of a single fruit, wherein the single fruit serves asan indicator for a batch of fruit subjected to the same logistictransport environment. For instance, a jar containing a single piece offruit chosen as a representative of a corresponding batch of fruit canbe continuously sampled to measure the rate of ethylene production. Inthis way, the ethylene production rate of fruit during logistictransport may be determined, and accordingly, their current state ofripeness.

FIG. 14 shows embodiments wherein the logistic transport containercomprises a container being transported by tractor-trailer. Thecontainer has four side walls, a bottom wall, and a top wall, definingan interior space. In an example, the container's contents is a bulkshipment of produce, for instance, fruit (not shown). The container isprovided with a sensing module, as shown in Detail B of FIG. 14. Thesensing module is placed in any suitable fashion inside the container,for instance, as indicated by “B” in Section A-A of FIG. 14, fixed to aninterior surface of the container's top wall at a distance “1” relativeto a first side wall of the container, and a distance “w” from a secondside wall of the container. The sensing module may comprise: a gas orsmell sensor, in this example, an ethylene sensor, as indicated by“Ethylene sensor chips” (it is understood that gas or smell sensors maybe provided to sense any gas, such as, but not limited to O₂ and CO₂,any airborne volatiles, and any number or combination thereof); othersensors, in this example, a temperature sensor, as indicated by“Temperature chip” (it is understood that these other sensors may beprovided to sense any environmental condition, or combination ofenvironmental conditions, inside the container, including, but notlimited to pressure, humidity, time, temperature and humidity, and soforth); optical sensors, not shown in FIG. 14 (it is understood thatsuch optical sensors may include, but are not limited to, Raman,hyper-spectral, near infra-red, or any other type of spectrometer, andmay sense a target attribute associated with a particular nutritional ororganoleptic property of the contents of the logistic transportcontainer, such as by scanning the contents to provide a correspondingscan-response); a GPS device, which may further comprise a time and datedevice to provide a time and date stamp corresponding to when GPS andsensor information is obtained, as indicated by “GPS Device”, which mayfurther be provided with a remote antenna, as indicated by “GPSAntenna”; an information storage device, indicated by “Storage infochip”, wherein the information storage device may store, manage, andtransmit information sensed by the various gas and smell sensors,optical sensors, and other sensors, the GPS device, and a uniqueidentifier associated with the contents of the container; and a powersource, indicated by “Battery device”, which may comprise a battery,connection for external power, or both.

The sensing module may further be provided with an air exchangecapability, indicated by “Ventilator”, wherein the atmosphere within thecontainer is passively or actively exposed to some or all of the variousgas and smell sensors, optical sensors, and other sensors, having sensorprobes in local proximity to the sensor. Additionally, or alternatively,some or all of the various gas and smell sensors, optical sensors, andother sensors of the sensing module may communicate with correspondingsensor probes placed remotely from the sensing module at locationswithin the container. Remotely placed gas and smell sensor probes areindicated by “Ethylene sensor probe”, and other remotely placed sensorprobes are indicated by “Temperature sensor probe”. Optical sensorprobes may be provided remotely as well, and may further be provided ona track allowing movement in one, two, or three axes relative to thecontents. Communication with a remote sensor probe may be accomplishedby hardwire connection of a corresponding sensor to connectors providedon an exterior of the sensing module, indicated by “Sensor wires”, andfurther by plugging the wire of the sensor probe into the connector. Itis understood that communication between a sensor and a remotely placedsensor probe may be accomplished in any known wired or wireless fashion,and the wired example provided herein is only provided for illustrativepurposes.

The sensing module may further be provided with a user interface,indicated as “Information Screen”, wherein various current or storedinformation may be displayed related to the container, its contents, andthe sensing module. The information displayed may be related to: theunique identifier associated with the contents of the container;information provided by the various gas and smell sensors and opticalsensors, as indicated by “Storage Info”; information provided by theother sensors, as indicated by “Temperature”; information regarding a ΔNor corresponding residual nutritional, organoleptic, or aesthetic valueof the container's contents; a current state of the power source, asindicated by “Battery”; and a current location of the container, asdetermined by the GPS device. Additionally, or alternatively, thesensing module may be provided with the capability to communicate thevarious current or stored information with a computer or other externalinformation system, such as by connection of the information storagedevice to a USB port available externally of the sensing module, asindicated by “USB port for PC”. It is understood that such communicationcapability may be accomplished in any known wired or wireless fashion,and the example of a USB port provided herein is provided only for thepurpose of illustration. Such communication capability may include, butis not limited to, any know type of active or passive transmitter fortransmitting information stored in the information storage device.Transmission may occur at or upon one or more of: predetermined times;predetermined sensor limits; external query, and proximity to aninformation receiving system. Information receiving systems causingtransmission to occur based on proximity of the container relative tothe information receiving system may be located at any point ofdeparture, transit (such as in close proximity to roadways), transfer,inspection, or receipt of the logistic transport container.

In a preferred embodiment, a logistic transport container is providedwith a sensing module including: separate or combined ethylene and CO₂sensors; separate or combined temperature and humidity sensors; one ormore stationary optical sensors, including Raman, hyper-spectral, nearinfra-red, or any other type of spectrometer; device for informationstorage, management, and transmission, wherein such transmission may beaccomplished by an RF antenna; and a GPS device to provide a location,time, and date stamp corresponding to when sensor information isobtained. It is understood that any part of the information stored bythe sensing module may additionally be stored remotely. For example, thesensing modules device for information storage may have limited storagecapacity, in which case it may be useful to periodically or continuouslytransmit the information contained therein to a remote database, such asthe dynamic nutritional value database. Such transmission might occur atspecific locations, at specific times, upon data capacity thresholds,upon dynamic sensing by the sensing module, wherein dynamic sensingcomprises periodically or continuously sensing data related to thenutritional substance or the container environment during transport ofthe container, or in any other fashion known to one skilled in the art.

In a further embodiment, the sensing module is part of an automatedlaboratory system for dynamically sampling and testing nutritionalsubstances in a logistic transport container during logistic transport.Alternatively, the sensing module may communicate with a separateautomated laboratory system that dynamically samples and testsnutritional substances in the logistic transport container duringlogistic transport. In a preferred embodiment, the automated laboratorysystem can dynamically acquire, encode, condition, and sense nutritionalsubstance samples, such as to determine a residual nutritional,organoleptic, or aesthetic value or a related ΔN, or to identifyunwanted substances such as pathogens, chemicals, pesticides, hormones,and the like. Such an automated laboratory system may comprise a dynamicsample conditioning system including one or more sample vessels to holdor periodically obtain (such as at predefined times or locations) rawsamples of the nutritional substance and periodically condition the rawsamples, such as mechanically, chemically, or thermally, including, butnot limited to, grinding, macerating, pressing, milling, chemicalextraction, ionic separation, adding buffering agents, heating, burning,drying, or freezing. Conditioning of the raw samples may alternatively,or additionally, include tagging the raw or conditioned samples byexposing the raw or conditioned sample to a target specific tag, whereinthe target specific tag acts to help identify one or more particulartargets. For example, SERS tags may be utilized to help identifyparticular target molecules, wherein a Raman spectrometer is furtherused to sense the tagged sample. It is understood that various tagtechnologies exist, and any tag technology know to one skilled in theart of exposing sample materials to surfaces or particles treated with,or acting as, target specific tags to identify specific analytes, orcomponent molecules thereof, may be used. One or more sensors of thesensing module or the automated laboratory system are utilized to senseinformation from the periodically conditioned samples, and may locallystore the sensed information, such as in an information storage moduleof the sensing module or the automated laboratory system, may transmitthe sensed information to a remote database, or may do both.

Conditioning of a raw sample may additionally include encoding the rawsample by adding a unique physical or chemical label to the samplebefore, during, or after conditioning. Alternatively, encoding thesample may include placement of the conditioned sample in a samplechamber, such as a pre-made assay tube containing target specific tagsand also containing the unique physical or chemical label. The uniquephysical or chemical label can be identified by sensors of the sensingmodule or the automated laboratory system in proximity to the samplechamber, such as, but not limited to, by any type of optical sensor orspectrometer, including a hyper-spectral camera or Raman spectrometer,and associated with the sensed information. After sensing, the samplechamber containing the conditioned sample is automatically moved toanother location to be discarded or retained and a new sample chamber isprovided to receive a new conditioned sample.

In an embodiment, information regarding the unique physical or chemicallabel is provided on a readable label or tag, such as on a containerholding the unique physical or chemical label, which is readable by areader of the sensing module or the automated laboratory system, such asby an optical or RFID reader, or writable to data storage of the sensingmodule or the automated laboratory system. Encoding the raw sample canbe done by adding the unique physical or chemical label to the samplebefore, during, or after sample conditioning. The sensing module or theautomated laboratory system can read the readable label or tag to obtainthe information regarding the unique physical or chemical label, oralternatively, the information may be written to data storage of thesensing module or the automated laboratory system. In this way, theinformation sensed from the sample chamber, which includes sensedinformation regarding the unique physical or chemical label therein, canbe compared to the information regarding the unique physical or chemicallabel provided on the readable label or tag. If the sensed informationregarding the unique physical or chemical label is consistent with theinformation provided on the readable label or tag, the sensedinformation, including all information sensed from the sample chamberregarding the conditioned sample, may be considered to be valid. If thesensed information regarding the unique physical or chemical label isnot consistent with the information provided on the readable label ortag, the information sensed from the sample chamber regarding theconditioned sample may be considered to be corrupted, invalid, orotherwise suspect, in which case an alert or warning may be registeredor communicated by the sensing module or the automated laboratorysystem.

In an alternative embodiment encoding the raw sample comprises placementof the prepared sample in a sample chamber containing the uniquephysical or chemical label. Information regarding the unique physical orchemical label is provided on a readable label or tag, such as on thesample chamber, which is read by the sensing module or the automatedlaboratory system, such as by an optical or RFID reader, or written todata storage of the sensing module or the automated laboratory system.In this way, the information sensed from the sample chamber, whichincludes sensed information regarding the unique physical or chemicallabel therein, can be compared to the information regarding the uniquephysical or chemical label provided on the readable label or tag. If thesensed information regarding the unique physical or chemical label isconsistent with the information provided on the readable label or tag,the sensed information, including all information sensed from the samplechamber regarding the conditioned sample, may be considered to be valid.If the sensed information regarding the unique physical or chemicallabel is not consistent with the information provided on the readablelabel or tag, the information sensed from the sample chamber regardingthe conditioned sample may be considered to be corrupted, invalid, orotherwise suspect, in which case an alert or warning may be registeredor communicated by the sensing module or the automated laboratorysystem.

In an alternative embodiment, the sensing module includes one or moretrack mounted Raman, hyper-spectral, near infra-red, or any other typeof spectrometer, such that the corresponding one or more spectrometerscan move in one, two, or three axes with respect to the contents of thelogistic transport container. It is understood that any other known typeof sensor may be track mounted such that it may move in one, two, orthree axes with respect to the contents of the container.

In an embodiment, the sensing module is not provided with a Raman,hyper-spectral, near infra-red, or any other type of spectrometer,rather, a separate device comprising a Raman, hyper-spectral, nearinfra-red, or any other type of spectrometer is used to sense thecontents of the logistic transport container when the contents areloaded into the container, and the same device or another separateRaman, hyper-spectral, near infra-red, or any other type of spectrometeris used to sense the contents of the logistic transport container whenthe contents arrive at a particular interim or final destination, suchas a point of inspection or delivery. It is understood that any otherknown type of sensor, including any type of spectrometer operating atany known wave length range, may be used to sense the contents of thelogistic transport container when the contents are loaded into thecontainer and when the contents arrive at a particular interim or finaldestination. It is also understood that any type of sensor requiringcontact with a raw or processed physical sample may be used, and furtherunderstood that any type of sensor capable of stand-off measurement(i.e. does not require contact with raw or processed physical sample)may be used, and is preferably used. Information obtained by the varioussensors, whether part of the sensing module or separate, includinginformation obtained upon loading the logistic transport container,throughout its transit, and at particular interim or final destinations,can be transmitted periodically or continuously (such as upon sensing)and used to understand the evolution of nutritional, organoleptic, oraesthetic values of the contents. If the information provided by anyparticular sensor provides a contradictory understanding of theevolution, it may indicate that the particular sensor is suspect, andmay further result in a notification to verify the particular sensor orother sensors.

In a further embodiment, the information transmitted from the separatesensors and the sensors of the sensing module can be stored to enabledata from the sensing module so that it can be correlated with data fromthe separate sensors to provide understanding of the relationshipbetween the information from the sensing module and the evolution ofnutritional or organoleptic values as evidenced by information from theseparate sensors.

In an alternate embodiment wherein the sensing module is not providedwith a Raman, hyper-spectral, near infra-red, or any other type ofspectrometer, the container includes a separate device comprising aRaman, hyper-spectral, near infra-red, or any other type of spectrometerused to sense the contents of the logistic transport container when thecontents are loaded into the container, and the same device is used tosense the contents of the logistic transport container when the contentsarrive at a particular interim or final destination, such as a point ofinspection or delivery.

In further embodiments, the sensing module or the separate devicecomprising a Raman, hyper-spectral, near infra-red, or any other type ofspectrometer, are provided as removable units, removable from thecontainer. In this way, they may be placed into a container not equippedwith a sensing module or a separate device comprising a Raman,hyper-spectral, near infra-red, or any other type of spectrometer so asto enable the container to function according to the inventionsdescribed herein. The removable sensing module or removable separatedevice comprising a Raman, hyper-spectral, near infra-red, or any othertype of spectrometer, may be place individually or together within thecontainer and may subsequently be removed from the container, forexample, for use in another container, for service, or for any otherreason.

In an alternate embodiment, the sensing module is provided as anindependent unit from the container and in any format allowing its useas a remote sensing station. For example, independent sensing modulesmay be positioned at various locations along a traveled route of alogistic transport container. The locations preferably include, but arenot limited to, locations where the container is loaded and particularinterim or final locations, such as a point of inspection or delivery.

In an alternate embodiment, the sensing module is provided as anindependent unit from the container and in any format allowing its useas a mobile sensing station. For example, independent sensing modulesmay be transported to various locations along a traveled route of alogistic transport container. The locations preferably include, but arenot limited to, locations where the container is loaded and particularinterim or final locations, such as a point of inspection or delivery.

In further embodiments, the sensing module or separate device comprisinga Raman, hyper-spectral, near infra-red, or any other type ofspectrometer is provided with an information screen, wherein variouscurrent or stored information may be displayed related to the container,its contents, the sensing module, and the separate device comprising aRaman, hyper-spectral, near infra-red, or any other type ofspectrometer. The information displayed may be related to the uniqueidentifier associated with the contents of the container, informationprovided by the various sensors of the container, a current state of thepower source, a current location, time, or date, or informationregarding a ΔN or corresponding residual nutritional, organoleptic, oraesthetic value of the container's contents. Information regarding a ΔNor corresponding residual nutritional, organoleptic, or aesthetic valuemay be communicated by a dynamic indicator, such as dynamic indicatorsshown in FIGS. 15 a and 15B and discussed herein.

FIGS. 15 a and 15 b show formats of a dynamic indicator according to thepresent invention by which a ΔN, and related residual and initialnutritional, organoleptic, and aesthetic values, may be expressed. Theear of corn shown on a microphone stand and labeled “INNIT” in FIGS. 15a and 15 b represents a nutritional, organoleptic, or aesthetic valueassociated with a nutritional substance. While any object may be chosento represent a nutritional, organoleptic, or aesthetic value, in apreferred embodiment, the chosen object corresponds to a logo, symbol,mascot, or other object associated with a Brand. Such a Brand might beassociated with a nutritional substance information system according tothe present inventions, a Measurement, Inspection, Engineering,Regulatory, Certification, or other Standard, or any other Brandassociated with the nutritional substance and information industry. Theobject chosen to represent a nutritional, organoleptic, or aestheticvalue is also referred to herein as a ΔN meter. In the followingexamples, the ΔN meter is the ear of corn shown on a microphone standand labeled “INNIT” shown in FIGS. 15 a and 15 b, and corresponds to thelogo of the provider of a nutritional substance information systemaccording to the present inventions.

In FIG. 15 a, a ΔN meter according to the present invention communicatesvarious items regarding a nutritional value, for instance Vitamin-Cvalue, in a corresponding nutritional substance, for instance, a cartonof orange juice provided with a dynamic information identifier. Aconsumer desiring information regarding Vitamin-C values of the orangejuice can use his smartphone to scan the dynamic information identifierand determine the desired information. In this example, the informationis presented to the consumer on the screen of his smartphone in the formof the ΔN meter shown in FIG. 15 a. The ΔN meter of this examplecommunicates symbolically through color, and color changes, the initialVitamin-C value, the current Vitamin-C value, and an expired Vitamin-Cvalue. The values may be shown as relative values without units ofmeasure, as shown, or may further be provided with actual units ofmeasure. In this example, the consumer is provided with a conceptualindicator regarding how much the Vitamin-C value has degraded relativeto its initial value and where its current Vitamin-C value is relativeto the expiration value of the Vitamin-C.

In FIG. 15 b, a ΔN meter according to the present invention communicatesvarious items regarding a nutritional value, for instance Vitamin-Cvalue, in a corresponding nutritional substance, for instance, a cartonof orange juice provided with a dynamic information identifier. Aconsumer desiring information regarding Vitamin-C levels of the orangejuice can use his smartphone to scan the dynamic information identifierand determine the desired information. In this example, the informationis presented to the consumer on the screen of his smartphone in the formof the ΔN meter shown in FIG. 15 b. The ΔN meter of this examplecommunicates symbolically through percent fill-level, and percentfill-level changes, the initial Vitamin-C value, the current Vitamin-Cvalue, and an expired Vitamin-C value. The values may be shown asrelative values without units of measure, as shown, or may further beprovided with actual units of measure. In this example, the consumer isprovided with a conceptual indicator regarding how much the Vitamin-Cvalue has degraded relative to its initial value and where its currentVitamin-C value is relative to the expiration value of the Vitamin-C.

It is understood that ΔN meters may take many forms and communicatevarious messages regarding a ΔN value or a residual nutritional,organoleptic, and/or aesthetic value of nutritional substances, and theexamples provided above are for illustrative purposes and not intendedto be limiting in any way. It is further understood that ΔN meters maybe utilized to communicate ΔN values and residual nutritional,organoleptic, and/or aesthetic values determined or estimated in anyfashion. Dynamic indicators such as ΔN meters may be communicatedthrough the user interface of the readers of preservation modules of thepresent inventions, through the sensors or sensing modules of thepresent invention, through any user interface provided for the creation,transformation, conditioning, consumption, and information modules ofthe present inventions, and thought any other known format capable ofcommunicating such information. In preferred embodiments, the ΔN valueor the residual nutritional, organoleptic, and/or aesthetic value aredetermined utilizing the nutritional substance information systemsdisclosed herein, including systems utilizing dynamic informationidentifiers and corresponding nutritional substance database, systemsutilizing nutritional attribute sensors and corresponding nutritionalsubstance attribute library, or a combination of both.

In an embodiment, a method is provided for determining and communicatingthe evolution of a nutritional, organoleptic, or aesthetic value of anutritional substance. In the method, a first value of a particularnutritional, organoleptic, or aesthetic property is determined at afirst time. Determination is made by scanning a nutritional substance ata first time to obtain a first scan-response related to a targetattribute, then analyzing the scan-response, by any methods known tothose skilled in data processing and analysis, including the applicationof statistical methods and creation of analytical algorithms, andcorrelating the first scan-response to the first value of the particularnutritional, organoleptic, or aesthetic property of the nutritionalsubstance and to a dynamic information identifier associated with thenutritional substance. At a second time, a second value of theparticular nutritional, organoleptic, or aesthetic property isdetermined. Determination is made by scanning the nutritional substanceat a second time to obtain a second scan-response related to the targetattribute and analyzing the second scan-response, by any methods knownto those skilled in data processing and analysis, including theapplication of statistical methods and creation of analyticalalgorithms, and correlating the second scan-response to the second valueof the particular nutritional, organoleptic, or aesthetic property ofthe nutritional substance and to the dynamic information identifierassociated with the nutritional substance. At a subsequent time, asubsequent value of the particular nutritional, organoleptic, oraesthetic property is determined. Determination is made by scanning thenutritional substance at a subsequent time to obtain a subsequentscan-response related to the target attribute and analyzing thesubsequent scan-response, by any methods known to those skilled in dataprocessing and analysis, including the application of statisticalmethods and creation of analytical algorithms, and correlating thesubsequent scan-response to the subsequent value of the particularnutritional, organoleptic, or aesthetic property of the nutritionalsubstance and to the dynamic information identifier associated with thenutritional substance. The difference between any two of the first,second, and subsequent values of the particular nutritional,organoleptic, or aesthetic property of the nutritional substancedescribes a ΔN occurring between the corresponding times and can bereferenced to the dynamic information identifier associated with thenutritional substance. Further, any two of the first, second, andsubsequent values of the particular nutritional, organoleptic, oraesthetic property of the nutritional substance can be used to create atable, graph, or curve showing the change in the particular nutritional,organoleptic, or aesthetic property occurring over the correspondingtimes, and can be referenced to the dynamic information identifierassociated with the nutritional substance. In a further embodiment, thefirst, second, and subsequent scan-responses may each be referenced tothe dynamic information identifier of the nutritional substance andtransmitted when first obtained.

Communicating the evolution of the particular nutritional, organoleptic,or aesthetic value of the nutritional substance can be accomplished inany fashion known to one skilled in the art. Examples include, but arenot limited to: simply providing the first value, the second orsubsequent value, and the change between the first value and the secondor subsequent value, expressed in the corresponding unit of measure;providing the first value, the second or subsequent value, and thechange between the first value and the second or subsequent value,expressed as a percentage; providing the first value, the second orsubsequent value, and the change between the first value and the secondor subsequent value, expressed as a percentage of a recommended dailyrequirement (for instance, % RDA could express such values as apercentage of the FDA's Recommended Daily Allowance); providing a table,graph, or curve showing the first and second values, wherein the valuesmay be expressed in a corresponding unit of measure, as a percentage, asa percentage of a recommended daily requirement, or in any knowngraphical fashion; and providing a ΔN meter.

There are many examples of sensor technology that might be utilized as anutritional substance attribute sensor, including, but not limited to:Surface plasmon resonance sensors (SPR) such as a cell phone basedsensor platform disclosed by Preechaburana et at, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.2012, 51, 11585-11588, “Surface plasmon resonance chemical sensing oncell phones”; SPR sensors such as those disclosed by Zhang, et al,Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, P. R. China “Detection ofpenicillin via surface plasmon resonance biosensor”; the combination ofmicrofluidics with Lab-on-a-Chip and Lab-on-a-Foil solutions disclosedby Focke, et al, www.rsc.org/loc, 19 Mar. 2010, “Lab-on-a-Foil:microfluidics on thin and flexible films”; Localized surface plasmonresponse sensors (LSPR) such as those disclosed by Roche, et al, Journalof Sensors, volume 2011, article ID 406425, doi: 10.1155/2011/406425, “Acamera phone localized surface plasmon biosensing platform towardslow-cost label-free diagnostic testing”; printed sensors such as thoseavailable from Thin Film Electronics ASA, for example the ThinfilmTime-Temperature Sensor; wireless pH sensors such as those discussed inIEE Sensors Journal, Vol 12, No. 3, March 2012 487 “A passiveradio-frequency pH sensing tag for wireless food quality monitoring”;sensing of biological quantities such as that discussed in ApplMicrobiol Biotechnol (2013) 97:1829-1840 “An overview of transducers asplatform for the rapid detection of foodborne pathogens”; cell phonebased E. Coli sensor using florescent imaging to detect bacteria in foodand water, developed at UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering andApplied Science; sensors discussed in Journal of Food Engineering 100(2010) 377-387 “Biomimetric-based odor and taste sensing systems to foodquality and safety characterization: An overview on basic principals andrecent achievements”; sensors discussed in Sensors 2010, 10, 3411-3443,doi 10.3390/s100403411 “Advanced Taste Sensors Based on ArtificialLipids with Global Selectivity to Basic Taste Qualities and HighCorrelation to Sensory Scores”; sensing described in Chem. Sci., 2012,3, 2542 “Fluorescent DNAs printed on paper: sensing food spoilage andripening in the vapor phase”; the use of a Silicon IntegratedSpectrometer to sense food for ripeness and other qualities is describedin IEEE Photonics Journal, 1 (4), p. 225-235 (2009); numerous sensingtechniques described in analytica chima acta 605 (2007) 111-129 “Areview on novel developments and applications of immunosensors in foodanalysis”; numerous sensing techniques described in J. Biophotonics 5,No. 7, 483-501 (2012)/doi 10.1002/jbio.201200015 “Surface plasmonresonance based biosensor technique: A review”; LSPR techniques to sensebitterness of tea described in Agric. Food Chem., 2010, 58 (14), pp8351-8356 “B-Cyclodextrin/Surface plasmon response detection system forsensing bitter astringent taste intensity of green tea catechins”; areview on nano-biosensors to measure tastes and odors discussed inBio-Nanotechnology: A revolution in food biomedical and health sciences,first edition, 2013, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. “Nano-Biosensors formimicking gustatory and olfactory senses”; techniques described inScience Daily,http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130214111612.htm, 14 Feb.2013 “World's most sensitive plasmon resonance sensor inspired by theancient roman cup”; ethylene sensors discussed in Anal. Chem., 2011, 83(16), pp 6300-6307, doi: 10.1021/ac2009756 “Electrochemical sensing ofethylene employing a thin ionic-liquid layer”; multiplex SPR techniquesdescribed in Anal Bioanl Chem (2011) 400: 3005-3011, doi10.1007/s00216-011-4973-8 “Imaging surface plasmon resonance formultiplex microassay sensing of mycotoxins”; a review of noble metalnono-optical sensors based on LSPR by Zhao, et al, “Localized surfaceplasmon resonance biosensors”; colorimetric plasmon resonance imagingdescribed by Garda, et al, Advanced Optical Materials 2013, 1, 68-76,doi: 10.1002/adom.201200040 “Colorimetric plasmon resonance imagingusing nano Lycurgus cup arrays”; sensor using multiplex fiber-opticbiosensor implemented by integrating multiple particle plasmonresonances (PPRs), molecular bioassays, and microfluidics is disclosedby Lin, et al, Proc. SPIE 8351, Third Asia Pacific Optical SensorsConference, 835125 (Jan. 31, 2012), doi: 10.117/12.914383 “Multiplexfiber-optic biosensor using multiple particle plasmon resonances”;sensor based on multilayered graphene SPR-based transmission disclosedby Kim, et al, J. Nonosci. Nanotechnol, 2012 Jul. 12(7):5381-5“Evaluation of multi-layered graphene surface plasmon resonance-basedtransmission type fiber optic sensor”; sensors to detect Mercury valuessuch as the biosensors, chemical sensors, conductometric sensors,microcantilevel sensors, SAW sensors, piezoelectric sensors, andnanosensors similar to those described by: Selid et al, Sensors 2009, 9,5446-5459; doi: 10.3390/s90705446; and Katherine Davies, Royal Societyof Chemistry, Chemistry World, New chemosensor for mercury detection(http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Issues/2005/July/mercury_detection.asp);sensors to detect caffeine values may be similar to those described by:Chung I C, et al, J Nanosci Nanotechnol. 2011 December; 11(12): 10633-8,A portable electrochemical sensor for caffeine and (−)epigallocatechingallate based on molecularly imprinted poly(ethylene-co-vinyl alcohol)recognition element.; or Ebarvia, et al, Analytical and BioanalyticalChemistry, March 2004, Volume 378, Issue 5, pp 1331-1337, Biomimeticpiezoelectric quartz sensor for caffeine based on a molecularlyimprinted polymer.; or Zhao, et al,http://www.researchgate.net/publication/225410860, Department ofMaterial and Chemistry Engineering, Henan Institute of Engineering,Zhengzhou, 450007 China, Article-Voltammetric sensor for caffeine basedon a glassy carbon electrode modified with Nafion and graphene oxide;sensors to detect sugar values may be similar to those described by:Kumar, et al, http://www.researchgate.net/publication/225803614, Studyof fiber optic sugar sensor; or Scampicchio, et al, Nanotechnology 20135501 doi:10.1088/0957-4484/20/13/135,501, Issue 13, 1-April-2009,Optical nanoprobes based on gold nanoparticles for sugar sensing;sensors to detect temperature values may be similar to thosemanufactured by MICRO-EPSILON, and described at www.micro-epsilon asminiature non-contact IR sensors thermoMETER CSmicro and non-contact IRsensors with laser aiming thermoMETER CSlaser; sensors for detectingtemperature values may also include any thermocouple type sensorsuitable for contact sensing of temperature. It is understood thatsensors may be configured to perform multiple test assays in a singleuse to develop a multidimensional dataset from each use.

Other examples of sensor technology that might be utilized includessensors similar to those manufactured by MICRO-EPSILON and described atwww.micro-epsilon as fixed lens color sensors color SENSOR OT-3-GL andOT-3-LU. These sensors illuminate a surface with white light and sensethe reflected color values, and are particularly useful for colorrecognition of non-homogeneous targets and glossy targets, for instance,a piece of beef or other animal tissue packaged in clear cellophane,packaged in shrink-wrap, or not currently packaged. These sensors canalso provide useful information regarding the turbidity of liquids.Alternatively, sensors may be similar to those manufactured byMICRO-EPSILON and described at www.micro-epsilon as fiber color sensors,color SENSOR LT-1-LC-20, WLCS-M-41, and LT-2. These sensors use amodulated white light LED to project a spot onto or through a target,and focusing part of the reflected or transmitted light with fiber opticonto a color detector element. Common sensing techniques include, butare not limited to: projecting a spot directly on and normal to aninspection target and focusing part of the back-scattered light withfiber optic onto a color detector; projecting a spot indirectly, that isat an angle to, an inspection target and focusing part of the reflectedlight with fiber optic onto a color detector; and projecting a spotdirectly through an inspection target and focusing part of thetransmitted light with fiber optic onto a color detector. Such anutritional substance attribute sensor may be configured to include awhite light source and color detector as a permanent part of a detector,and a coupler that enables attachment of the detector to the matingcoupler of various fiber optic probe configurations to project lightfrom the light source onto or through a target and to focus reflected ortransmitted light from the target onto the color detector. Such fiberoptic probes may be provided as a permanent part of a sealed nutritionalsubstance package, wherein the portions of the probe required tointerface with the nutritional substance are in direct contact with thenutritional substance, and the mating coupler that allows removableattachment to the sensor coupler provided with the detector is availableexternally of the package. Permanently incorporating the sensor probeinto the package has many benefits. The portion of the sensor probes incontact with the nutritional substance can be tailored to the specificproduct and package, while the mating coupler on the outside of thepackage is always provided in the configuration compatible with thesensor coupler on the detector. This enables sensing of a wide array ofpackaged nutritional substances without disrupting package integrity. Italso simplifies the task greatly for a user, and ensures consistent andaccurate sensing technique.

Sensing technologies utilizing hyper-spectral imaging are potentiallyuseful as nutritional substance attribute sensors, and because of theirspeed and ability to provide high volume, in-line/in-process detection,may be particularly useful for applications during logistic transport.Hyper-spectral imaging has been utilized, for example, for in-lineinspection of produce such as apples and strawberries, and has also beenutilized for rapid inspection of meat products such as poultry andseafood. This technology is particularly useful for identifyinganomalies in nutritional substances without disrupting the nutritionalsubstance. All substances have unique spectral signatures, which can besaved in a library. Libraries including the spectral responses of knownnutritional substances in known nutritional, organoleptic, or aestheticconditions, and further including known sources of adulteration, such asfecal matter, chemical contamination, micro-organisms and otherpathogens or disease conditions, can be used for comparison to spectralresponses of nutritional substances currently being sensed, and in thisway the currently sensed nutritional substance can be quicklycharacterized according to desired characterization criteria.Hyper-spectral sensing may further be utilized for plant and cropphenotyping, whereby a composite of a nutritional substance's observablecharacteristics provides a unique fingerprint. This can be particularlybeneficial to rule out adulteration such as by partial or totalingredient substitution.

Still other examples of optical sensor technology that might be utilizedinclude, but are not limited to: handheld Raman spectrometers availablefrom Serstech, www.serstech.com; PinPointer™ handheld Raman spectrometeravailable from Ocean Optics, www.oceanoptics.com; TruScan RM handheldRaman spectrometer available from Thermo Fisher Scientific; nearinfra-red sensor available from Thermo Fisher Scientific; Xantus Mini™remote controlled, smartphone compatible Raman spectrometer availablefrom Rigaku, www.rigaku.com; Lighting Passport handheld or remotesmartphone compatible spectrometer from Asensetek,www.alliedscientificpro.com.

In preferred embodiments, packaged nutritional substances are sensed bynutritional substance attribute sensors without disrupting the integrityof the package. As used herein, a nutritional substance package is anytype of nutritional substance container, storage device or recipient,including, but not limited to, cups, bottles, glasses, bags, boxes,wrappers, caps, lids, covers, logistic transport containers, and soforth. In some embodiments this is accomplished with existing packaging.In other embodiments, nutritional substance packaging is provided toenable sensing of nutritional substance attribute values without openingthe package. Such packaging may incorporate non-contact interface ports,such as a glass or plastic window of known refractive index, into thenutritional substance packaging, wherein such ports allow interactionbetween a nutritional substance attribute sensor and the nutritionalsubstance without disrupting the package integrity. This may also beaccomplished by incorporating product contact portions of a nutritionalsubstance attribute sensor into the nutritional substance packaging, andproviding ports allowing interaction between the product content portionand the nutritional substance attribute sensor without disrupting thepackage integrity. Alternatively, this may be accomplished by furtherproviding the product contact portion with the ability to transmitsensed values to a device equipped to receive such transmission, such asa detector. Alternatively, such transmission of sensed values may beprovided by a signal generated by a passive RFID tag when it is inproximity to a corresponding RF scanner, by the signal generated by anactive RFID tag and received by a corresponding RF scanner, or by anyknown formats for transmitting data. In an example, and not to belimiting in any way, thin film chips such as the tagging systemmanufactured by Kovio of San Jose, Calif., USA, can be used not only fortracking nutritional substances, but can include components to measureattributes of nutritional substances, and record and transmit suchinformation. Such information may be readable by a reader including asatellite-based system. Such a satellite-based nutritional substanceinformation tracking system could comprise a network of satellites withcoverage of some or all the surface of the earth, so as to allow thedynamic nutritional value database of information module 100 real time,or near real time updates about a ΔN of a particular nutritionalsubstance.

The ability to determine corroborating evidence of the authenticity ofnutritional substances packaged with known packaging, and the residualnutritional, organoleptic, and aesthetic values, such as by sensingnutritional substance attribute values without disrupting the integrityof the package and providing packages that widely expand the ability todo so, provides great utility and benefit for the nutritional substancesupply system.

It is understood that the present inventions are not limited in scope bythe examples of sensors and sensor probes disclosed herein. Nutritionalsubstance packages may be provided with sensor probe portions of anyknown sensing technology in contact with the nutritional substancecontained therein, and further provided with the ability to communicatesensed values by any known mechanism, including, but not limited to,optic coupling, electronic coupling, acoustic coupling, mechanicalcoupling, non-contact coupling such as RF, Bluetooth, inductive field,or any other non-contact coupling, and so forth.

Further, it is understood that many other sensing capabilities andsampling formats may be employed. It is also understood that the currentinventions enable users of packaged nutritional substances to determinecorroborating evidence of the authenticity of the nutritional substancesand current values for dynamically changing and evolving nutritional,organoleptic, and aesthetic values of the nutritional substances. Suchchanges and evolution may be through expected degradation, such asorange juice loosing vitamin-C or yogurt loosing active Lactobacillus,may be through unexpected degradation, such as oxidation resulting froma broken package seal, or may be through maturation, such as evolvingsugar, alcohol, and tannin content of wine, or the maturation of cheese.Determination of a current nutritional, organoleptic, and aestheticvalue of a nutritional substance provides information regarding changesthat have occurred in corresponding nutritional, organoleptic, andaesthetic values, as well as the corresponding residual nutritional,organoleptic, and aesthetic values. Further, this provides usefulinformation regarding best-use, maturation, stabilization, or expirationof the corresponding nutritional, organoleptic, and aesthetic value, andcan even be utilized to indicate adulteration of the nutritionalsubstance.

Systems with the ability to periodically or continuously sense andtransmit or communicate residual nutritional, organoleptic, or aestheticvalues of packaged nutritional substances, the ability to rule outadulteration of the packaged nutritional substances, and the ability toprovide corroborating evidence of the authenticity of the packagednutritional substances, without disrupting the integrity of the package(which includes any form of preservation, storage, or logistictransport) is particularly beneficial during logistic transport. Forexample, the time, labor, and expense associated with logistic transportof produce and other nutritional substances through agricultural checkpoints could be dramatically reduced by such systems. As an example, andnot to be limiting in any way, such a system could be utilized by ahighway, rail, or maritime produce shipper, wherein the residualnutritional, organoleptic, or aesthetic values of packaged nutritionalsubstances, the ruling out of adulteration, and corroborating evidenceof the authenticity of the packaged nutritional substances is providedat an agricultural check point instantly, without disrupting theintegrity of the package, and without the manual verification, delay,and product holds currently experienced. For instance, RFID tagsassociated with the packaged nutritional substance, in this case thelogistic transport system of the highway, rail, or maritime produceshipper, automatically transmit the residual nutritional, organoleptic,or aesthetic values of packaged nutritional substances, the ruling outof adulteration, and corroborating evidence of the authenticity, when inproximity to RFID sensors positioned next to a fast-track lane providedat the check point.

Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, throughout thedescription and the claims, the words “comprise,” “comprising,” and thelike are to be construed in an inclusive sense (i.e., to say, in thesense of “including, but not limited to”), as opposed to an exclusive orexhaustive sense. As used herein, the terms “connected,” “coupled,” orany variant thereof means any connection or coupling, either direct orindirect, between two or more elements. Such a coupling or connectionbetween the elements can be physical, logical, or a combination thereof.Additionally, the words “herein,” “above,” “below,” and words of similarimport, when used in this application, refer to this application as awhole and not to any particular portions of this application. Where thecontext permits, words in the above Detailed Description using thesingular or plural number may also include the plural or singular numberrespectively. The word “or,” in reference to a list of two or moreitems, covers all of the following interpretations of the word: any ofthe items in the list, all of the items in the list, and any combinationof the items in the list.

The above Detailed Description of examples of the invention is notintended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise formdisclosed above. While specific examples for the invention are describedabove for illustrative purposes, various equivalent modifications arepossible within the scope of the invention, as those skilled in therelevant art will recognize. While processes or blocks are presented ina given order in this application, alternative implementations mayperform routines having steps performed in a different order, or employsystems having blocks in a different order. Some processes or blocks maybe deleted, moved, added, subdivided, combined, and/or modified toprovide alternative or sub-combinations. Also, while processes or blocksare at times shown as being performed in series, these processes orblocks may instead be performed or implemented in parallel, or may beperformed at different times. Further any specific numbers noted hereinare only examples. It is understood that alternative implementations mayemploy differing values or ranges.

The various illustrations and teachings provided herein can also beapplied to systems other than the system described above. The elementsand acts of the various examples described above can be combined toprovide further implementations of the invention.

Any patents and applications and other references noted above, includingany that may be listed in accompanying filing papers, are incorporatedherein by reference. Aspects of the invention can be modified, ifnecessary, to employ the systems, functions, and concepts included insuch references to provide further implementations of the invention.

These and other changes can be made to the invention in light of theabove Detailed Description. While the above description describescertain examples of the invention, and describes the best modecontemplated, no matter how detailed the above appears in text, theinvention can be practiced in many ways. Details of the system may varyconsiderably in its specific implementation, while still beingencompassed by the invention disclosed herein. As noted above,particular terminology used when describing certain features or aspectsof the invention should not be taken to imply that the terminology isbeing redefined herein to be restricted to any specific characteristics,features, or aspects of the invention with which that terminology isassociated. In general, the terms used in the following claims shouldnot be construed to limit the invention to the specific examplesdisclosed in the specification, unless the above Detailed Descriptionsection explicitly defines such terms. Accordingly, the actual scope ofthe invention encompasses not only the disclosed examples, but also allequivalent ways of practicing or implementing the invention under theclaims.

While certain aspects of the invention are presented below in certainclaim forms, the applicant contemplates the various aspects of theinvention in any number of claim forms. For example, while only oneaspect of the invention is recited as a means-plus-function claim under35 U.S.C. §112, sixth paragraph, other aspects may likewise be embodiedas a means-plus-function claim, or in other forms, such as beingembodied in a computer-readable medium. Any claims intended to betreated under 35 U.S.C. §112, ¶ 6 will begin with the words “meansfor.”Accordingly, the applicant reserves the right to add additionalclaims after filing the application to pursue such additional claimforms for other aspects of the invention.

1. System for tracking changes in nutritional or organoleptic values ofnutritional substances during logistic transport, said systemcomprising: a container for logistic transport of a nutritionalsubstance; a first type of sensor for sensing initial attribute data ofthe nutritional substance related to a nutritional or organoleptic valueof the nutritional substance at an initial time and for sensingsubsequent attribute data of the nutritional substance related to thenutritional or organoleptic value of the nutritional substance at asubsequent time; a second type of sensor associated with the containerfor dynamic sensing of data related to the nutritional substance or thecontainer environment during transport of the container: and one or moretransmitters for transmitting the initial attribute data, the subsequentattribute data, and the dynamically sensed data.
 2. A system fortracking changes in nutritional or organoleptic values of nutritionalsubstances during logistic transport according to claim 1, wherein thefirst type of sensor comprises one or more optical sensors.
 3. A systemfor tracking changes in nutritional or organoleptic values ofnutritional substances during logistic transport according to claim 2,wherein the one or more optical sensors include any of a Raman,hyper-spectral, or near infra-red spectrometer.
 4. A system for trackingchanges in nutritional or organoleptic values of nutritional substancesduring logistic transport according to claim 1, wherein the second typeof sensor comprises a gas, temperature, and humidity sensor.
 5. A systemfor tracking changes in nutritional or organoleptic values ofnutritional substances during logistic transport according to claim 1,wherein said dynamic sensing is done periodically or continuously duringtransport.
 6. A system for tracking changes in nutritional ororganoleptic values of nutritional substances during logistic transportaccording to claim 1, wherein the first type of sensor comprises onedevice for sensing the initial attribute data and the subsequentattribute data.
 7. A system for tracking changes in nutritional ororganoleptic values of nutritional substances during logistic transportaccording to claim 1, wherein the first type of sensor comprises a firstdevice for sensing the initial attribute data and a second device forsensing the subsequent attribute data.
 8. A system for tracking changesin nutritional or organoleptic values of nutritional substances duringlogistic transport according to claim 1, wherein the initial timecorresponds to when the nutritional substance is loaded into thecontainer.
 9. A system for tracking changes in nutritional ororganoleptic values of nutritional substances during logistic transportaccording to claim 1, wherein the subsequent time corresponds to aninspection of the nutritional substance at an interim or finaldestination.
 10. A system for tracking changes in nutritional ororganoleptic values of nutritional substances during logistic transportaccording to claim 1, wherein the one or more transmitters is furtherfor transmitting at least one of a location, date, and timecorresponding to the initial attribute data, the subsequent attributedata, and the dynamically sensed data.
 11. A method for tracking changesin nutritional or organoleptic values of nutritional substances duringlogistic transport, said method comprising the steps of: sensing initialattribute data of a nutritional substance related to a nutritional ororganoleptic value of the nutritional substance at an initial time witha first type of sensor; and sensing subsequent attribute data of thenutritional substance related to the nutritional or organoleptic valueof the nutritional substance at a subsequent time with the first type ofsensor; and dynamically sensing data related to the nutritionalsubstance or the container environment during transport of the containerwith a second type of sensor associated with the container; andtransmitting the initial attribute data, the subsequent attribute data,and the dynamically sensed data.
 12. A method for tracking changes innutritional or organoleptic values of nutritional substances duringlogistic transport according to claim 11 including correlating theoutputs of said first and second types of sensors with one another. 13.A method for tracking changes in nutritional or organoleptic values ofnutritional substances during logistic transport according to claim 12,wherein the one or more optical sensors include any of a Raman,hyper-spectral, or near infra-red spectrometer.
 14. A method fortracking changes in nutritional or organoleptic values of nutritionalsubstances during logistic transport according to claim 11, wherein thesecond type of sensor comprises a gas, temperature, and humidity sensor.15. A method for tracking changes in nutritional or organoleptic valuesof nutritional substances during logistic transport according to claim11, wherein said dynamically sensing is done periodically orcontinuously during transport.
 16. A method for tracking changes innutritional or organoleptic values of nutritional substances duringlogistic transport according to claim 11, wherein the first type ofsensor comprises one device for sensing the initial attribute data andthe subsequent attribute data.
 17. A method for tracking changes innutritional or organoleptic values of nutritional substances duringlogistic transport according to claim 11, wherein the first type ofsensor comprises a first device for sensing the initial attribute dataand a second device for sensing the subsequent attribute data.
 18. Amethod for tracking changes in nutritional or organoleptic values ofnutritional substances during logistic transport according to claim 11,wherein the initial time corresponds to when the nutritional substanceis loaded into the container.
 19. A method for tracking changes innutritional or organoleptic values of nutritional substances duringlogistic transport according to claim 11, wherein the subsequent timecorresponds to an inspection of the nutritional substance at an interimor final destination.
 20. A method for tracking changes in nutritionalor organoleptic values of nutritional substances during logistictransport according to claim 11, wherein transmitting further comprisestransmitting at least one of a location, date, and time corresponding tothe initial attribute data, the subsequent attribute data, and thedynamically sensed data.
 21. An automated laboratory system fordynamically sampling and testing nutritional substances during logistictransport, comprising: a logistic transport container for a nutritionalsubstance; and a dynamic sample preparation system including one or morevessels for obtaining and periodically conditioning raw samples of thenutritional substance; and a sensor to sense data from the periodicallyconditioned raw samples; a second type of sensor associated with thecontainer for dynamic sensing of data related to the nutritionalsubstance or the container environment during transport of thecontainer; and at least one of an information storage module to storethe sensed data and a transmitter to transmit the sensed data.
 22. Anautomated laboratory system for dynamically sampling and testingnutritional substances during logistic transport according to claim 21,wherein: periodically conditioning the raw samples includes mechanical,chemical, or thermal conditioning.
 23. An automated laboratory systemfor dynamically sampling and testing nutritional substances duringlogistic transport according to claim 21, wherein: periodicallyconditioning the raw samples includes exposure to a target specific tag.24. An automated laboratory system for dynamically sampling and testingnutritional substances during logistic transport according to claim 21,wherein: the sensor includes a Raman spectrometer.
 25. An automatedlaboratory system for dynamically sampling and testing nutritionalsubstances during logistic transport according to claim 21, furthercomprising: a sample chamber with a unique identifier.